Beignets

Source: Allrecipes

Click here to read about my experience making this recipe for my state meal challenge!

Servings: 24

Total time: 3 1/2+ hours

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• ⅓ cup + 1 Tbs sugar, divided
• ⅔ cup whole milk
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, lightly whisked to combine
• ½ Tbs vanilla
• 3 Tbs butter, melted
• 4 ⅓ cups flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 quart canola oil for frying
• ¼ cup powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Whisk in 1 Tbs sugar and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
• Add the ⅓ cup sugar, whole milk, eggs, vanilla, and butter and whisk until just combined. 
• Add the flour and salt and mix with a dough hook on low speed until smooth. 
• Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours. The dough should double in size.
• In a heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, heat the canola oil to 350 degrees F. 
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼” thick. 
• Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 2” squares or rectangles. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let them sit for 15 minutes. 
• Fry the beignets a few at a time, about 1 minute each side. If they don’t puff up and rise to the surface of the oil, the oil isn’t hot enough. 
• Drain the beignets on paper towels. 
• Liberally dust with powdered sugar and serve warm with blueberry preserves. 

NOTES

• This makes a lot of dough (and I even halved the original recipe!). If you don’t want to cook it all at once, you can just take out however much dough you want to use, then punch down the rest and leave it in the fridge for another time. Some say the flavor only gets better the longer you leave the dough in the fridge! 
• The straighter you cut the squares or rectangles, the more evenly they’ll puff when fried.