Funny that as I was typing “man,” I typed “Mac.” Very appropriate. I can’t testify to the success of these man-catching beignets as I already had a captive audience of two men. But they both really liked these.
In honor of New Orleans hosting the Super Bowl, I decided to make beignets. Mardi Gras is also this week! I found a delightfully easy recipe from Paula Deen and whipped up a batch of these fried, sugary treats. I love the flavor combination of the savory yeast dough with tons of sweet powdered sugar. They’re easy to eat and are a great way to feed a crowd.
Paula’s original recipe calls to knead the dough by hand (and that’s what I included here). I’ve also made the dough with a stand mixer. If you have a stand mixer, use the flat beater for the first three steps. Switch to the dough hook to knead the dough. Kneading will take 3-4 minutes with the dough hook. You can also use the same bowl to let the dough rise.
The recipe itself isn’t too complicated, but frying the beignets will require a lot of steps. Roll out your dough and slice it. You’ll want your sliced beignets to be more square than rectangular. From there, drop the dough in batches in to your pre-heated oil. I love this deep fryer, and it makes frying everything easy. Let the beignets cook for a minute or two on one side (until a light golden brown) then flip and cook for another minute or two. Remove them from the hot oil and drain. You want to drain the beignets long enough so that they’re not dripping but not too long that they cool off. Once they’re drained, drop them in the powdered sugar and toss well to coat. I personally like to use an assembly line when cooking the beignets.
Man-catching beignets
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water
- 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
- 1 envelope of active dry yeast
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt
- 1 cup of evaporated milk
- 7 cups of flour
- 1/4 cup of vegetable shortening
- Oil, for deep-frying
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
- In another bowl, beat the eggs, salt and evaporated milk together. Add egg mixture to the yeast mixture and combine.
- Add 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add the shortening and continue to stir while adding the remaining flour.
- Remove dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Put dough into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours. You can also refrigerate the dough for up to a week. Just let it rise again once you take it out of the fridge.
- Preheat oil in a deep-fryer to 350 degrees F.
- Add the confectioners’ sugar to a paper or plastic bag and set aside.
- Roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut into 1-inch squares. A pizza cutter works quite well.
- Deep-fry, flipping constantly, until they become a golden color.
- After beignets are fried, drain them for a few seconds on paper towels, and then toss them into the bag of confectioners’ sugar. Hold bag closed and shake to coat evenly.
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I bet these would be a big hit in our house! Visiting today from the “I love my post” hop.
yum! i love beignets, and i always wanted to know how to make them! thanks for the recipe! New follower from the hop! Can’t wait to check out the rest of your posts 🙂
Mmmm! Those look amazing! I am stopping by from Wednesday Walkabout. I’m a military spouse too. And your newest follower. It looks like I am “meeting” you at an exciting time, switching duty stations. Can’t wait to follow along.
Nicole
http://adventuresofasemperfifamily.blogspot.com