B for Beignets

 Beignets. Even there name evokes luxury, originated during the Middle Ages, French colonizers brought their recipe to Louisiana, making New Orleans famous for these fried clouds of dough. Every few weeks, my family would drive 15 anticipating minutes to a quirky restaurant named Huey's. Whenever we wanted to indulge a little bit, Huey's was the place; we would march through the restaurant with determination, picking the best booth on the porch, not even bothering looking at the menu, we would demand (politely of course) two orders of beignets. A few agonizing minutes later, two plates would float onto our table with the essence of a beautiful, delicious dream; as we each warily grabbed one of those perfect beignets, our mouths would water as the confectioners sugar would puff into the air. Biting down, a rush of perfection would go through my body, like watching a unicorn be born. From then on, only good memories have been associated with the word beignets. Sadly, though, Huey's closed and I have forever more been searching for that taste again. So when I started this project, searching through my cookbook, I came across an easy recipe for beignets and just HAD to make them.

The mixture turned out to look like a lumpy omelet. So not what I  was expecting.

After that, I was almost positive that I had done something wrong. This is not what I picture in my head when someone mentioned beignets. But hey, that's the fun of it, not really knowing how it's going to turn out. Even though it is hugely stressful, you just have to have enough faith in yourself to know you did everything right. 

Yes, I am southern. No I do not own a deep fryer, so when this moment came to drop those dumplings of yumminess into bubbling oil, I had to do it the old fashion way. Now frying something without that high tech stuff is really annoying, and you have to use a butt load of oil. My cookbook said to drop 3 in at a time, but I just plopped them all in there in two intervals, easy peasy. When they are ready to be flipped, they will tell you, because they gracefully float to the top as if politely saying "Ding Ding, all done." 

Now when mine came out of the fryer, I was so proud of them that I didn't even care that they were EXTREMELY disfigured. Also, once they hit those paper towels, you gotta sprinkle them with that luscious confectioner's sugar. That's what I'm talkin' about.

Tips for this recipe: Cut the recipe in half if you aren't serving a lot of people, beignets have to be eaten immediately after fried. Make smaller portions when dropping the dough into the oil, about half a tablespoon. Finally, let the oil cool on the stove, then pour it into a container and throw it out, don't pour it down your drain. Until Next time, thanks guys, be proud of your sweet teeth and don't forget to ask "What's for dessert?"


Recipe from Teens Cook Dessert page 91, around 45 minutes to make.