Crispy on the outside, moist on the inside and lighter than air.
This beignet recipe is my french grandmother's.
Shrove Tuesday is known as pancake day in a few countries, and although some people do also eat pancakes on the day in France, it is more traditional to eat sugar-coated fried foods like donuts, merveilles or beignets.
My grandmother always cooked beignets and I absolutely love them.
If you've never had them before I would say they're probably most similar to the texture of a cruller but the size of a donut hole, the outside is crispy and the inside incredibly airy and moist.
They're technically easy to make although they do take some time. The dough is a choux pastry, if it's your first time making it, it's a great way to learn this culinary basic which you can reuse for a lot of baking recipes such as profiteroles, eclairs and cheese puffs.
Ingredients: (approx 18 beignets)
125mL water
40g salted butter
63g plain flour
2 eggs, medium
Vanilla sugar
1L vegetable oil
Method: (see photos below)
Measure out the butter and water in a saucepan then place on a medium heat to bring the mix to a boil.
When boiling, add the flour off the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
Put the saucepan back on a low heat and stir the mix for around 5 minutes, the mixture should come together and not stick to the sides.
Transfer the dough to a stand mixer (or mixing bowl) and whisk until cool.
Add one egg then whisk until combined, then add the second egg and mix again.
Heat up the vegetable oil in a deep pan over a medium-high heat. Drop a teaspoon of mixture into the oil, it should bubble straight away and the beignet should float, but it shouldn't brown too quickly. If it doesn't float or bubble, the oil isn't hot enough; if it starts to brown straight away, the oil is too hot (in this instance be careful that the beignet doesn't explode and splatter some hot oil). The beignet should start to move around the pan and start to crack as it puffs up. It should start to turn itself over and keep expanding but if it doesn't spoon a bit of the oil on top of it and turn it from time to time until it stops cracking and it's golden all over. Remove it from the oil onto some kitchen paper. The oil is now the right temperature so you can start cooking them 4 at a time, you may need to increase the temperature a tiny bit to start off with as adding the dough will lower the temperature of the oil.
While the beignets are still hot, toss them in sugar (I like to use vanilla sugar but cinnamon sugar or plain would also be nice)
Bon appétit!
Full Video:
More about this recipe:
This beignet recipe is super easy and makes the tastiest little treats for this weekend, shrove Tuesday and just any other occasion really. They go great with a bitter coffee or tea, apple juice, or a glass of white wine.
The 2 key things to ensure success:
Don't skimp out on drying out the choux pastry, stir the water + butter + flour mix over a low heat for at least 5 minutes then whisk it until it's cooled off completely
Don't let the oil get too hot, they need to brown off slowly to have time to expand/puff up to make sure they're light and airy.
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