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New Orleans Beignets - soft, pillowy and the best beignets like New Orleans. This recipe is fail-proof and easy. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.
Beignets New Orleans
New Orleans is famous for its beignets (sometimes misspelled as benya). Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans is world famous because of its legendary beignets and coffee.
Beignet is a specialty in the French Quarters in the Big Easy. They are square in shape, about 2 inches x 2 inches deep fried nuggets of sweetened dough.
After deep-frying, they are dusted and sprinkled with lots of powdered sugar. Beignets are served as a dessert with French cafe au lait.
Cafe Du Monde Beignet Copycat Recipe
I have an easy beignets recipe using choux pastry. This is the real and authentic New Orleans beignets recipe and Cafe Du Monde copycat.
What Does A Beignet Taste Like
Beignets are fried fritters with a dense and doughy interior. These sweet fried dough are crispy on the outside but soft and pillowy on the inside.
They taste lighter and airy to the palate. They are basically donuts in squares without a hole.
Beignets Main Ingredients
- Cake flour and bread flour
- Yeast
- Eggs
- Butter
- Milk powder
- Sugar and salt
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make Beignets New Orleans
New Orleans beignets are made with a yeast dough.
First, you make the dough by mixing sugar, salt, milk powder, unsalted butter, eggs, yeast and flour to form the dough.
Next, you wait for the beignets dough to rise for one hour.
The final step is cutting the dough into squares and deep fry in batches until golden brown. To serve, dust powdered sugar generously on the beignets and serve warm.
This beignet recipe is very easy, fail-proof and delivers amazing results. If you love sweet desserts, you will definitely love this easy recipe!
Frequently Asked Questions
Donut and beignets are very similar. Both are made with a yeast dough. The dough needs to rise before deep-frying. The real difference is in its shape.
Donuts are round with a hole and have a variety of sweet glazes. Beignets are squares or rectangles in shape without holes. They don’t have a glaze but dusted with powdered sugar.
This recipe is only 165 calories per beignet.
What To Serve With New Orleans Beignets
This dish is best served with a cup of coffee. For an afternoon tea or dessert party, I recommend the following recipes.
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New Orleans Beignets
Ingredients
- 8 oz (230g) warm water
- 1 oz (30g) active dry yeast
- 1 oz (30g) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 o (30g) milk powder
- 3 oz (90g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 6 oz (175g) cake flour
- 11 oz (325g) bread flour
- 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- oil , for deep-frying
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- Mix the water and active dry yeast together, then let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, mix the sugar, salt, milk powder, unsalted butter, and vanilla extract on high speed until light and foamy. Then, add the eggs one at a time on medium speed, followed by the yeast mixture.
- Change to the hook attachment and add the cake flour, bread flour, and baking powder. Beat on low speed, then increase to high speed until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Let the dough rise for one hour.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and roll it out to about 1/4 inch (5 mm) thickness. Cut the dough into 1-inch to 2-inch squares (2.5 cm to 5 cm). Heat 3 inches (7 cm) of oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat.
- When the oil is fully heated, drop the dough in batches and fry until golden brown, turning the beignets frequently. Use a strainer to transfer them to paper towels to drain. Sprinkle generously with powdered sugar and serve warm.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What are the metrics measurements?
Can I use all purpose flour to replace cake flour?
Yes!
Can I use an air fryer for this?
I don’t think so.
No, although it’s called a “fryer”, it’s truly a convection oven. The convection function circulates hot air around the food making it crispier than in a regular oven, but it is not actually frying it.
Sorry I don’t understand the cake mix flour … is it from a box? Any flavor of cake? Thanks
It’s cake flour. Not cake mix flour.
My mother made round balls and used granulated sugar to roll
the deep=fried balls which she called “Punchcus” Polish.
I’ll try this recipe to see if I can match my mother’s version.
Thanks for this recipe. I’m now an 81 year old lady with fond
memories of this treat.
Awww, thanks for your comment. I hope you like my recipe!
Tried the New Orleans Beignets yesterday and they were fantastic. Finished before the day ended. Thank you.
:)
hi what brand of milk powder?
It doesn’t matter, just dry milk for baking!
What is “milk powder”?
Dry milk.
Beignets New Orleans!
Hi Rasa. I’m sorry but I don’t understand the 8oz 1 cup +1 teaspoon. So how much water do I need? 1 cup + 8oz + 1 Tablespoon ???
Please clarify
8 oz water is 1 cup + 1 teaspoon water. :)
1 oz yeast = 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon. Is that the correct amount of yeast for under 4 cups of flour? Thanks!
Please use a scale, that’s the most accurate measurement.
I did, 1 ounce of yeast came out to 3T+. I ended up using the equivalent of one package, 2 1/4 teaspoons. It was more than enough and they were delicious. Thank you!
I need to watch my sodium levels, why and what makes the sodium levels so high in these Beignets? Can I avoid the salt in this recipe?
Hi Betty, I don’t know the nutrition is generated by the program. Even if I remove the 1 teaspoon of salt, it still shows 67 mg of salt, I supposed the flour has salt inside? You can skip salt completely if you want.