While in New Orleans, if you haven't had a beignet (pronounced ben-YAY), you aren't having the full experience of the city.
A few days ago I was there for the International Association of Culinary Professionals conference. I had a few minutes free, so I popped over to famed Café De Monde on Decatur Street, shared a plate of three with my companion, and washed it all down with a tall coffee and chicory café au lait. More on what chicory (a relative of lettuce) is doing in your coffee, another day.
A beignet is a very filling, square piece of dough, fried in oil and blanketed with powdered sugar. They use cottonseed oil at the Café Du Monde, and I'm going to recommend some alternatives since cottonseed oil may be highly contaminated with pesticide residues.
Now, I don't usually recommend mixes, but honestly, the easiest way to make these treats at home (and to support a local New Orleans business) is to buy the Café Du Monde's Beignet Mix ($2.45 for a 28oz box, you'll get about four dozen beignets out of it). You'll need to mix that up with some and then fry it.
The Café recommends cottonseed oil, but we'd rather you use Canola, Grapeseed or even clarified butter, all of which have a high smoking point and can handle deep frying. Once you get your mix in the mail, follow these simple directions.
If you want to try making them from scratch, first make sure you are equipped to do some serious deep frying with a fryer, or a heavy and deep cast-iron pan.
Here is a recipe from WhatsCookingAmerica.com. The ingredients are nothing special. The most exotic are yeast and evaporated milk. Don't forget gobs of powdered sugar for the final dusting.
And one last tip: don't wear black.
A few other links to Beignet recipes:
• Beignets - A French Doughnut from RealCanjunRecipes.com
• New Orleans Style Beignets from NolaCuisine.com
• Beignet Twists at Epicurious.com
• Beignets from Gourmet Magazine via FoodNetwork.com
I saw you there at Cafe du Monde while I was also attending the conference--recognized you from the Future of Food Media panel. I did wear black, unfortunately, and also returned later in the day for more beignets. So my shirt is no longer black, but it was worth it. Thanks for the recipe!
Jennifer
view Jennifer Brizzi's profile
I find these things way too heavy, in the same way that a packzi is like the more leaden version of a filled donut.
view sally599's profile
excellent picture--I'm starving! But done right, they are light and crispy and melt in your mouth. Only much later will you feel they're too heavy...
by the way, thanks much for introducing me to your cool site--I just picked up some of those stainless steel sippy cups.
view RobinGainesville's profile
I have made the recipe straight of the box and they are delicious! For those that haven't had this delicious snack, it's similar to funnel cake, except they are in squares which makes them more pillowy...hhhmmm i'm hungry :)
view wwoolsey's profile
I used to make beignets with that mix when I was growing up, and it's delicious!
view Elvira's profile