Beignets
Doughnuts from the French Quarter of New Orleans, where Café du Monde, open since 1862, serves them in threes under an absurd quantity of icing sugar. They differ from European doughnuts in being square and unfilled; in this version the dough also contains condensed milk, which gives it softness and a gentle sweetness. The dough must spend at least 4 hours in the fridge, ideally overnight — warm it is far too sticky to roll.
Your own work in that: 35 min.
- Dough 20 min
- Overnight in the fridge 240 min
- Cutting 35 min
- Frying 25 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneKnead a soft dough with two milks
Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk, add the condensed milk, egg, sugar, salt, flour and melted butter and knead 10 minutes. The dough will be soft and sticky — that is right, do not add more flour.
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour · 180 ml milk · 100 g condensed milk · 7 g dried yeast · 1 pcs egg · 60 g sugar · 50 g butter · 1 tsp salt
Refrigerate overnight
Cover and refrigerate 4 hours, ideally overnight. Not only fermentation: cold dough can be rolled, while warm it is so sticky that it clings to the pin and the worktop however much you flour them.
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour · 180 ml milk · 100 g condensed milk · 7 g dried yeast · 1 pcs egg · 60 g sugar · 50 g butter · 1 tsp salt
A night in the fridge — warm dough cannot be rolled.Roll to a centimetre thick
Roll the cold dough into a rectangle 1 cm thick. No thinner — beignets should puff into pillows with a hollow-ish centre, and dough rolled too thin comes out flat and tough.
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour · 180 ml milk · 100 g condensed milk · 7 g dried yeast · 1 pcs egg · 60 g sugar · 50 g butter · 1 tsp salt
Cut squares, do not stamp circles
Cut the dough into 6 by 6 cm squares with a knife — you will get about 24. Squares, not rounds — that is what beignets are and, more practically, cutting leaves no offcuts to re-knead and re-roll.
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour · 180 ml milk · 100 g condensed milk · 7 g dried yeast · 1 pcs egg · 60 g sugar · 50 g butter · 1 tsp salt
Knife-cut squares — no offcuts to re-roll.Rest the squares 20 minutes
Lay the squares on a floured cloth, cover and leave 20 minutes at room temperature. Dough straight from the fridge is too cold — in hot oil it puffs unevenly and stays raw in the middle.
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour · 180 ml milk · 100 g condensed milk · 7 g dried yeast · 1 pcs egg · 60 g sugar · 50 g butter · 1 tsp salt
Heat the oil to 180°C
Heat the oil to 180°C and hold it there. Beignets fry very fast; at 165°C they absorb oil and come out heavy, at 195°C they scorch outside before the centre cooks.
Ingredients: 1200 ml oil
Fry in batches and baste with oil
Slide in 3–4 squares at a time and fry about 90 seconds a side, until golden. They puff into pillows almost immediately — as soon as they surface, spoon hot oil over their tops so they rise evenly. All the batches take about 25 minutes in total.
Ingredients: 1200 ml oil
They puff instantly — baste the tops as soon as they surface.Bury them in icing sugar
Drain briefly on paper and dust with icing sugar through a sieve, genuinely generously — New Orleans serves beignets under a mound of sugar, not a dusting of it. Serve immediately with chicory coffee.
Ingredients: 200 g icing sugar · 4 pcs coffee
Before you start
Chicory coffee
In New Orleans beignets are traditionally served with café au lait made from chicory coffee — a habit linked to times when coffee was scarce and chicory stood in for it. Chicory brings a bitter, earthy note that balances the sweetness of the sugar.
Three to a portion
At Café du Monde beignets come three to a plate, and the menu has long been limited almost entirely to them and coffee. Three is one person's portion — they are light and vanish faster than you expect.
The dough can be made ahead
The dough keeps up to two days in the fridge; if it rises a lot, knock it back gently with your hand. Always fry beignets fresh — after an hour they deflate and the icing sugar soaks in, forming a sticky crust.
