Beignets--Diamond

            Beignets (pronounced  ben-YAY!) are a traditional, fried pastry dessert from New Orleans, Louisiana. They are typically called the “Louisiana doughnut” and are pretty much a doughnut’s fancy cousin. This hot, powdered sugar-covered fritter is cut into whatever shape you want, then fried to a golden crisp and you can add as much powdered sugar as your heart desires on top! I remember my first taste of a beignets during the summer of 2011 when I went to Louisiana with my mom. We stopped by a store called Cafdu Monde who sold ONLY beignets! (Well…and coffee.) My mom and I spent a good 5 minutes arguing how it was pronounced and of course I was wrong… but when the we opened the bag of beignets, I did a happy dance and stuffed my face with more than half the bag. When we got home, I told my mom I wanted to learn how to make them and although they didn’t turn out exactly like the ones at Cafdu Monde, they were still like heaven in your mouth:) I have made the every year at Christmastime since then and my family loves them! This is my own modified recipe that I use every year and I hope you love them as much as I do!

Ingredients:

   1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

   1/2 cups granulated sugar

   1 envelope ACTIVE dry yeast

   2 room temperature eggs, slightly beaten

   1 1/4 teaspoon salt

   1 cup evaporated milk

   7 cups bread flour (yes this is different from regular flour)

   1/4 cups shortening

   nonstick spray

   about 5 cups oil for deep frying (depends on fryer or deep pan)

   3 cups confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

Directions:

First you must prepare the dough and it takes time so be patient. In a large bowl mix the lukewarm water, sugar, and yeast and let it sit for 10 minutes.

In another medium bowl, beat the evaporated milk, eggs, and granulated sugar until it is a light yellow, slightly frothy mixture.

Then, combine both the yeast mixture and milk mixture (It will look lumpy and weird, but thats normal I promise)

In a separate bowl (sorry lots of bowls), add ONLY 3 of the 7 cups of bread flour to the lumpy yeast mixture until its fully combined. Add the 1/4 cup of shortening and stir that together BEFORE adding the remaining 4 cups of bread flour. This will allow the dough to become doughy and it will help when they fry later. Otherwise they can turn out a hard fried rock.

By now it should look like dough and you are going to put the entire mixture onto a surface (like a counter or board) that is lightly covered in flour, so that the dough does’t stick.