Beignets
• 1½ cups warm water
• ½ cup white sugar
• 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup evaporated milk
•1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
•6½ cups bread flour, divided
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying
• ¼ cup confectioners' sugar (or more)
1. Stir together the warm water, sugar, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Let sit and dissolve for 5 to 10 minutes, until smooth.
2. Add the eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla extract, and salt, and mix on low with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer until combined.
3. Add 3 cups of the flour, one cup at a time. Add the butter and continue to mix on low until dough is sticky but smooth. Add the remaining flour and mix until just combined.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight. The dough will rise slowly overnight.
5. Remove dough from refrigerator and let rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
6. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to an inch thick, and slice into 2 inch squares or use a cookie cutter for fun shapes.
7. Heat vegetable oil in a Dutch oven or electric fryer until the temperature reaches 375°F.
8 Place a few of the uncooked beignets in the hot oil and fry them, turning once, until they are puffy and golden brown on both sides, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove the beignets from the oil and drain on paper towels or cooling rack.
9. Dust with a light layer of powdered sugar. I like the cooling rack with a pan under to make dusting them with powdered sugar easier. Repeat with remaining dough squares. Once all the beignets are done, add a generous dusting of powdered sugar on top of the pile and serve.
My daughter Tori decided she wanted to make food from different Disney movies and then eat the food while watching the movie, mainly because she wanted these beignets. We both love Princess and the Frog. I always say if I was a princess, I would be Tiana. Tori loves the music and the animation. So, when I agreed to do this project with her, this was our first choice. every princess week we make these now and have gotten better at it.
I had never made beignets before when we made these the first time. The dough was a little trickier and stickier than I thought it would be and it took a few times to perfect our technique. The best part was Tori and I had a great time making them. She will take a break break to play Roblox, Splatoon, or some other game while we waited for it to rise.
We use our deep fryer to cook them, just remove the baskets and use tongs. I use a small strainer and a slightly larger bowl to set it in to “sift” the powdered sugar on top of the beignets. Tori and i usually end up covered in powdered sugar no matter what we do.