Golden, fluffy, powdered sugary, fried delights of joy.
That is how I would describe fresh & homemade New Orleans’ beignets.
I guess by definition, they are:
1. a square doughnut with no hole
2. a fritter
Pronunciation: ben-YAY (emphasis on the “yay” since these fried fritters are a party in your mouth.)
It’s no secret that these beignets aren’t square in shape (they are more like amoebas) …so I guess taking that extra step would seal the deal to officially make them “New Orleans” beignets. But, I feel like they can still have the official title since the mix was purchased and brought back from New Orleans.
Here’s a little background to the pastry and it’s pairing:
Jen and Josh were visiting with their friends up North. One of them happens to be a converted pastry chef into a tattoo shop owner & artist. Perfect combo, right? While Jen and I were conversing over the phone about the Beignet adventure we were soon to embark on in the upcoming week, the ex-pastry chef interjects with a dipping sauce recipe but all I heard was, “ooo, mascarpone… infused cream…. with fleur de sel!”
Apparently that game “telephone” when told through the actual telephone is far worse than when it’s played at a church camp with other teeny-boppers.
We left it up to our memory to replicate the recipe he actually gave us that day. Which basically means that we had no idea what we were doing except that we had purchased mascarpone and heavy whipping cream and the heavenly jar of fleur de sel caramel from TJs.
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The process:
Go to New Orleans and get stoked on making these treats while back in your homeland. Or just order them online or make them from scratch.
Stickiest dough, ever. Maybe flour up your hands before touching?
Drop about 1 Tablespoon amount in the hot oil, and let it rise to cook at the surface. Flip them over after about a minute.
Let drain on a paper towel.
Repeat the process until all the dough is used up.
* Little Yellow Note: don’t overcrowd the oil.
Add powdered sugar to paper bag, and drop in about half of the cooked beignets. Shake around until they are fully covered; repeat with the rest of the batch.
Transfer to a place while you make the sauce.
Follow directions below for the dipping sauce.
This…
+
.= heaven
Keep in mind that one or two will never be enough. It quickly turns into 6 or 7. Just go with it…
.
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For the Beignets:
I only followed step 1 and encourage you to do the same. (Why put in the extra work if you will be devouring these, just seconds after cooking?)
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Vanilla Mascarpone Dipping Cream:
Ingredients:
1 cup mascarpone
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp fleur de sel caramel, plus more for drizzing or dipping on the side
Directions:
in a small saucepan, add the cream and let warm up over low heat. Add about 1/2 of the mascarpone, vanilla, powdered sugar, fleur de sel. Combine these ingredients, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute, until mascarpone is almost melted down. Remove promptly from heat, transferring to another bowl, and add the rest of the mascarpone. With a little wire whisk, incorporate the together, adding more mascarpone, if the texture is too soupy.
*Little Yellow Note: The dipping sauce should be semi-soupy so that it is dip-able.
From the Little Yellow Kitchen,
Chrissy
