when I think of New Orleans I think of
the French Quarter Mardi Gras and
Vinnies keep watching to learn how to
make Louisiana's state donut join us on
get the dish where we find out the
secrets behind signature dishes from
famous chefs and eateries and show you
how to recreate them at home
the king of beignets is Cafe Du Monde
they've been serving the classic fried
fritter since 1862 and the New Orleans
French market these fried pieces of
dough are served piping hot covered in
powdered sugar with a side of cafe au
lait so to make the beignets we're gonna
start by activating the yeast and warm
water and sugar in a mixing bowl you
want to make sure the water is warmer
than body temperature so it can activate
the yeast now it's gonna take about five
minutes but you're gonna start to notice
bubbles forming and a little bit of foam
on the top and just let it set alright
so take a look at those bubbles our
yeast is nice and activated now I'm
going to add our salt fresh lemon zest
we're gonna do about three-quarters of
the lemon our nutmeg and one egg just
whisk this up to combine now this recipe
calls for a lot of flour so I'm actually
gonna pour our yeast mixture into a
bigger bowl add our milk
I'm just gonna gradually add our flour
about one and a half cups if you have a
stand-up mixer you can use that to make
the batter as long as you use the dough
hook now I'm gonna add the butter an
easy way to add the butter into the
batter is to just press it against the
sides of the bowl kind of mash it up so
that then it makes for a smooth batter
that's why it's really important that
your butter is room temperature now
we're gonna add 1 in 3/4 cup of flour
and continue to mix all right now it's
coming together into a nice dough we're
just gonna add the rest of this flour
and then the remaining flour we're
actually gonna use to knead into the
dough all right that's about all that I
can add with the spoon now I'm just
gonna get in there good now I'm just
gonna add that remaining flour and knead
it all together now once you have the
majority of it this is when you can take
it out of the bowl and just really
continue to knead it into itself until
it becomes smooth this will take about 5
minutes our dough ball looks perfect
right it's nice and smooth so we're not
ready yet the dough needs to rise so
we're gonna place the dough and a
lightly oiled bowl it's just a little
bit of vegetable oil and then cover it
with plastic wrap and let it set in a
warm draft-free spot until it doubles in
size so this dough ball is actually
gonna get bigger than the bowl this will
take about 60 minutes after about an
hour we're gonna remove the saran wrap
and you can already see that the dough
has doubled in size now we're gonna
punch it down this is gonna redistribute
the yeast that's so fun we're in lightly
flour the work surface then we're gonna
roll out the dough until it's a half
inch thick so they've been raised at
Cafe Du Monde our square shape so I
found this square cutter but if you
don't have a square cutter you can also
use a pizza cutter and then just cut the
shapes of the Benes
all right so once you have it to about a
half inch thick we're gonna cut them out
as close to each other as possible put
them on a baking sheet lined with
parchment paper we're gonna let them
rise a second time but make sure you
keep them in a warm draft-free spot for
about half an hour oh that one's not
quite a square that's okay it'll taste
just as good no matter what shape take a
look at our bin yes they've risen up
nicely they're nice and puffy so now
we're ready to fry them heat your oil in
a medium pot or a deep fryer like I have
here until it reaches 350 degrees and
it's always a good idea to use a
thermometer to make sure cuz you don't
want to burn them so now we're gonna fry
the beignets in small batches just to
make sure that they don't get
overcrowded in the fryer until they're
brown all over about one or two minutes
they look beautiful and golden and I'm
just gonna remove them with a slotted
spoon and let them drain on a paper
towel or on brown paper and I'm just
gonna continue frying up the rest
these beignets are so easy to make and
they're so good too
they're crispy on the outside and then
like fluffy pillows of heaven on the
inside now you can enjoy them with a
little powdered sugar or hit it with a
little bit of strawberry jam right on
top
that is so good and just like at Cafe Du
Monde you can't enjoy Vinay without a
little cup of café lá I'm Randy thanks
so much for watching and I'll see you
next time we get the dish on pop sugar