These New Orleans-Style Beignets Are Light, Fluffy and Sweet

If you’ve never had a New Orleans-style beignet, you’ve been missing out. Thankfully, you don’t have to travel to the Big Easy to experience all of the goodness that these light, fluffy, doughy treats have to offer. In fact, it’s easier than you’d imagine to make these at home for yourself.

According to NewOrleans.com, the beignet is a donut without a hole, and it’s made using a simple dough recipe. But they’re served hot and usually buried under a heaping mound of powdered sugar, so they’ll surpass any regular old donut-eating experience.

The treat dates back to the 18th century when French-Creole colonists first introduced the breakfast indulgence to the city of New Orleans.

Though often served alongside coffee and eaten in the morning, beignets are great at any time of the day. Serve them with post-dinner coffee or as a bedtime snack with a glass of milk. There’s no wrong way to eat one!

OK, enough talking about these delicious treats. Let’s find out how to make them already, shall we?

There are quite a few versions of recipes online, but this one from Baker By Nature seems simple, sweet and absolutely yummy. You’ll need granulated sugar, active dry yeast, evaporated milk, bread flour and a dash of vanilla for added sweetness. It also requires four cups of oil for frying. This recipe calls for peanut oil, but you can also use vegetable oil, canola oil or shortening for deep frying.

You have to allow plenty of time for the dough to rise, but the recipe itself is pretty hands-off. It doesn’t take hard work to make these — just a bit of patience. Once the dough is ready, you’ll slice it into two-inch squares and get ready to fry it in hot oil using a deep cast iron pan.

Once they’re nice and fluffy and golden-browned to perfection, you’ll top them with plenty of powdered sugar and dig right in while they’re still hot:

This version from Bombshell Bling suggests using brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon to give the dough an added bit of flavor. Because if you’re going to make these at home, you might as well put your own stamp on them, right?

In the end, you’ll still wind up with perfectly tasty beignets:

So, who’s ready to try their hand at homemade beignet-making?