a little louisiana in south carolina

in november i went to new orleans with some girlfriends

 it was a blast and we ate AMAZING food

including soft pillowlike funnlecakelike puffs called beignets

this is what they looked like at cafe du monde

 

 

since we have 3 more days before healthy eating resolutions start- i made them for dessert

here is how

i copied these directions from their website

but i took my own pictures as a made them so you could see what non-perfect lumpy yet still scrumptulescent beignets look like

In a bowl, combine two cups of beignet mix with seven ounces of water. Be sure to measure your ingredients. Remember, sometimes it is hard to measure ingredients exactly. You may have to add a little more or a little less water to achieve a good beignet mix dough, and you may have to make more than one batch to get the hang of it. Mix the ingredients with a spoon until the beignet mix is all mixed with the water. The dough should be relatively soft, like drop biscuit dough. It should not be stiff like pie dough. Do not overmix the dough. You will have tough beignets if you overmix the dough.

Scoop the mix from the bowl onto a well-floured surface. You will need additional flour to roll the dough flat; or else, the dough will stick to your rolling pin and your hands. Flour keeps the dough from sticking to everything. Be sure to use plenty of flour. Roll the beignet dough flat and cut into 2-inch squares using a pizza cutter.

From around the edges, you will have scraps of dough left over. Do not try to remix these scraps and cut them into squares. If you do this, you will get tough beignets. Just fry these pieces just the way they are. Your cooking oil should be at 370 degrees Fahrenheit. We use cottonseed oil at the Cafe Du Monde, and we recommend you use cottonseed oil. However you may use any vegetable oil you wish. Remember that the temperature of the oil will drop when you add the beignet dough to the oil. Do not add too many pieces to the oil or else the oil temperature will drop and your beignets will be fry up flat. They will not puff up. The only other reason the dough does not puff up would be if you rolled the beignet dough too flat. Try rolling the dough a little thicker.

(now my directions take over)

turn over and over to get even color on both sides

the dough should only take about 8-10 seconds to float to the top
take out when light golden brown and let drip dry on a wire rack
while still hot dust the beignet with a poof of powdered sugar

eat them fast while still hot! they are amazing dunked in coffee

the cafe du monde coffee is the best though (cafe au lait) because it has root chicory in it

i dont know why chicory makes coffee so yummy- but it does

 

yum scrum.