By Tracey
Beignets
barely adapted from Cook’s Country
Ingredients:
- 1 cup warm water (about 110 F)
- 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons canola oil, plus extra for frying
- confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the water and 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and set aside for 5 minutes – the mixture should become foamy. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, the remaining 2 tablespoon of sugar, and the salt together in a medium bowl. Add the eggs and 2 tablespoons of canola oil to the foamy yeast mixture and whisk until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to stir until a rough dough comes together (you don’t have to knead it or make it smooth as you might with other yeast doughs). Place a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl and allow to rise in the refrigerator for about 1 hour, or until just about doubled in size. (Don’t let the dough rise at room temperature – it’s wet and sticky, and chilling in the fridge makes it easier to work with.)
Grab two rimmed baking sheets – line one with parchment paper and generously dust the parchment with flour. Set a wire rack inside of the second baking sheet. Set both aside.
Turn the dough out onto a generously floured work surface. Divide in half. Working with one half of the dough, pat it into a rectangle – if it’s sticking to the work surface or your hands, coat it with more flour. Roll the dough to a 1/4-inch thick rectangle about 12×9-inches in size. Cut the dough into 12 equal squares, each about 3×3-inches. Gently transfer the squares to the flour-dusted baking sheet. Repeat the same process with the second half of the dough to make 12 more squares.
Add enough canola oil to a pot to measure about 1 1/2 inches deep – you can do this in a large Dutch oven which will enable you to fry about 6 beignets at a time, but if you’d rather use less oil, it will work just fine in a smaller pot (I used a 3-qt pan). If you go with the smaller pan, I wouldn’t fry more than 2 at a time. Set the pot over medium to medium-high heat and heat the oil until it measures 350 F on a candy thermometer. Add the beignets (how many depends on how big a pot you used) and cook for about 3 minutes, flipping them over after 1 1/2 minutes so both sides brown evenly. Try to maintain the oil temperature between 325 and 350 F – adjust the heat under the pot as necessary. Use a spider strainer to transfer the beignets to the wire rack you prepared earlier to allow any excess oil to drain. Return the oil to 350 F before frying the next batch of beignets. Continue until they’ve all been cooked. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
(Note: these really are best very shortly after frying. I tried to rescue leftovers the next day, but couldn’t figure out a way to recreate that original fried goodness. In other words, serve immediately.)
Makes about 2 dozen beignets.
