Coffee With Pat Ministries

“Beignets” French Market Doughnuts

The rectangular doughnuts served fresh and hot 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, are called Beignets. You can find them at any French Market Coffee Shop. They are easy to make at home, and make sweet wonderful breakfast bread, or a snack at any hour of the day.

A lot of people have made Beignets at home and they did not taste right. They were using regular milk, or diluting the evaporated milk in their recipes. That is not the traditional New Orleans way. You must use undiluted canned evaporated milk. The yeast dough must be prepared in advance and refrigerated overnight.

Even if you are making them at home it is best to make a large quantity, enough for about 5 dozen beignets. Do not worry; the dough keeps beautifully under refrigeration for up to 8 days. When you get ready to cook a wonderful sweet Beignet, just go to the refrigerator cut off some dough; roll it out, cut it up, and fry for about 3 minutes per batch, then sprinkle the beignets with confectioners’ sugar and serve piping hot. (They are better than those popular donuts than we cannot eat just one.)

Serve piping hot Beignets with a good cup of strong coffee, or other drinok of your choice.

1-1/2 – cups warm water
1/2 – cup of sugar
1 – package active dry yeast
2 – large eggs
1 – teaspoon salt
7 – cups of flour
1- cup undiluted canned evaporated milk
1/4 – cup of vegetable shortening
Confectioner’ sugar
Enough Oil for deep-frying

Put warm water into a large bowl, then sprinkle in the dry yeast and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Then add the sugar, salt, eggs, and evaporated milk. Gradually stir in 4 cups of flour and beat with a WOODEN SPOON until smooth and thoroughly blended. Beat in the shortening, then add the remaining flour, about 1/3 cup at a time, beating it in with the spoon until it becomes too stiff to stir, then working in the rest with your fingers. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

The next day roll the dough out on a floured board or marble pastry surface to a thickness of 1/8 inch, and then cut it into rectangles 2-1/2 inches by 3-1/2 inches with a sharp knife. Preheat oil in a deep fryer to 360 degrees. Fry the beignets about 3 or 4 at a time until they are puffed out and golden brown on both sides (about 2 to 3 minutes per batch) Turn them over in the oil with tongs once or twice to get them evenly brown, since they rise to the surface of the oil as soon as they begin to puff out. Drain each batch, place on a platter lined with several layers of paper towels, and put the platter in a 200-degree oven to keep warm. After you have cooked the desired amount, sprinkle the beignets heavily with confectioner’s sugar and serve hot.