Beignets

I'm probably going to fight with the formatting until I get used to Blogspot, so bear with me as things change. In any event, this post is dedicated to making Beignets!

First off, to give credit where credit is due, I got this recipe right out of The Joy of Cooking, which has been my sort of Bible of Cooking for about 8 years now.

A beignet is, effectively, a French donut. Also, it really makes life easier to have a helper in the kitchen for this particular recipe.

Ingredients:
1 or 2 Kitchen Helpers
1/2 cup of water
1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
4 room temperature eggs
1/2 cup of flour
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Step 1:

In a pan, mix the water, salt, sugar and butter and bring to a bubbling boil.

Step 2:

 Add 1/2 cup of flour all at once and stir together until clumpy and shiny.

Step 3:

Transfer the mix from the frying pan to a mixing bowl and immediately begin to beat in one of the eggs on low to medium low. Once the batter starts to get a little thinner, add the second egg, beat for ~1 minute, add the third egg, beat for ~1 minute, add the fourth egg, beat for ~1 minute, then beat in 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Step 4:

Remember what I said about having a kitchen helper? Here we have my husband Brendan helping! Now, you can use anything to actually fry the beignets in but I used my wok because it was handy. Pour about 1.5" of cooking oil in a frying pan/wok and heat it to between 365 and 375 degrees.

Step 5: Check the Temperature

Use a thermometer to check your oil's temperature.

Step 5a: Double check the temperature.

Seriously, don't let it go higher than 375 or lower than 365.

Step 6: Pour the batter.

Using a metal slotted spoon, scoop a spoonful of batter and lower it quickly into the oil, then upturn the spoon and let the remaining batter dollop in to the center of the spot.

Don't cook more than 4 or 5 beignets in the pan at a time. 

Step 7: Watch them.

They only need to cook for ~15 - 20 seconds. 

Step 8: The Flip

 Using a fork, flip the beignets over and let cook for another ~15 - 20 seconds. 

This batch turned out way prettier:

  Step 9: Transfer to draining rack

Using a slotted spoon or wire scoop, transfer the beignets to a draining rack. 

Step 10: Powdered Sugar

Have your kitchen helper sprinkle powdered sugar on the beignets while they're still hot. Seriously, though, LOTS OF POWDERED SUGAR:

  

aaand here you go, Beignets:

Or, even better, Beignets with Coffee: