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New Orleans Honey Beignets

food
5
food
90 mins
bread
side dish
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by Natasha
Published on 24 October 2022
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As you might’ve known by now, food is the thing that brings the world together. This goes back centuries of blending cultures and introducing different parts of the world through food.

Beignets: from French to American

Beignets are originally from France and have about 20 different variations of them. During the 18th century, French beignets were brought to New Orleans, Louisiana (United States) by the French Colonists and most notably the Acadians. As a result, beignets became a staple of New Orleans cuisines and have since gained popularity throughout many countries.

In today’s recipe, I’ll be making the New Orleans-style of beignets which aredeep-fried yeasted doughs (close to a doughnut). They’re typically square and are dusted generously with powdered sugar on top. These are usually enjoyed for breakfast in New Orleans, United States. They’re always consumed the best when fresh. They’re crispy, fluffy, light and sweet. Beignets are all the good things you want in a treat.

My Take on the New Orleans Beignets

Playing with flavours is always fun when it comes to food, and in this case, I will be making honey beignets.

Honey is mother nature’s ultimate sugar. It’s very healthy compared to sugar, of course. Not just they smell good, but also taste amazing! Honey has lots of health benefits as they are full of antioxidants, helps wound healing and many more! So all the more reason to use them as the main flavour of these beignets.

You could say these honey beignets are similar to doughnuts, but these only need to ferment once. These beignets also tend to be lighter in terms of texture. When you drop them in the deep fryer, you will slowly see them puff up and double in size. They retain their shape, leaving a somewhat light, hollow shell on the outside.

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Please note that honey beignets are very sticky in terms of working the dough and since they are a lot stickier than doughnut or typical bread dough, you don’t need to knead them too much.

These honey beignets are so delicious and easy to make, even my mouth is watering from writing this article! So I do hope you get to try these out for yourselves!

I don’t recommend eating them in the morning like how you would do it in New Orleans, since they are fairly sweet and I honestly think they taste better as a snack! But that’s always up to your liking.

Some tips that might be useful:

  • The dough will be quite sticky, so dust more flour on your hands and surfaces to prevent it from sticking too much.
  • Frying at the right temperature will give you the best results. Make sure to use a thermometer to measure the temperature of the oil accurately.

New Orleans Honey Beignets

by Natasha
servings
4 people
prep time
75 mins
dish type
Bread
cook time
15 mins
course
Side dish
total time
90 mins

ingredients

  • for honey beignets

    • 45 mlwater(warm, about 100c)
    • 15 gramhoney
    • 0.5 tspyeast
    • 30 mlmilk(in a room temperature)
    • 15 gramegg(beaten)
    • 112 gramall-purpose flour
    • 0.25 tspsalt
    • 5 grammilk powder
    • 12 gramunsalted butter(in a room temperature)

  • for toppings

    • 30 grampowdered sugar(as needed, for toppings)
    • 20 gramhoney(as needed, for toppings)

  • Extra ingredients

    • 200 mlvegetable oil(as needed, for frying)
    • 5 gramunsalted butter(in a room temperature, for greasing bowl)
    • 10 gramflour(as needed, for dusting)

instructions

Making the honey beignet dough

  1. In a bowl, add warm water (about 100 C), yeast and honey. Set aside for 5 minutes to rise.
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  2. In another bowl, add all-purpose flour, milk powder and salt. Mix together until fully incorporated. This will be your dry ingredients
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  3. Add milk and beaten egg to the risen yeast mixture and mix thoroughly. This will be your wet ingredients.
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  4. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients in. Mix everything with a spatula until it forms a tacky dough.
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  5. Dust some flour to a work surface.
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  6. Place dough to the floured surface and add the unsalted butter.
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  7. Dust some flour on your hands and began mixing the butter to the dough and knead it until all the butter has disappeared. Shape the dough gently into a ball.
  8. Prepare an empty bowl and brush some unsalted butter (for greasing) to the bowl.
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  9. Place the dough onto the greased bowl and wrap with cling wrap. Let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
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  10. In a pot/saucepan, add some vegetable oil just enough to fill about ⅓ of the pot.
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  11. After 1 hour, take dough an lightly dust the top with flour to prevent the hand from sticking to the dough. Lightly punch the gas out of the dough.
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  12. Lightly dust the work surface with flour and place the dough on top. Dust more flour on a rolling pin and on top of the dough and gently roll the dough out to 1.5 cm thick.
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  13. Cut the dough using a bench scraper into 5x5cm squares.
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  14. Turn the heat on the oil on high heat. Once it reaches 180 C, turn the heat down to low to stabilize it (use an oil thermometer).
  15. Fry about 2-3 at a time until both sides are golden brown.
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  16. Take them out using tongs or chopsticks and drain the excess oil on a spider or a cooling rack.
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  17. Dust some powdered sugar and add a drizzle of honey on top.
  18. Now you can enjoy it as a mid-day snack!
bread
side dish
bread
honey
fried
beignets
doughnuts
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Natasha
Bake it till you make it!