Beignets

More About This Recipe

• Basically a fancy name for a doughnut, beignets are pillowy-soft pieces of fried pastry dough covered in powdered sugar (the name literally translates from French to “fritter”). The official state doughnut of Louisiana, beignets were brought there by French settlers who migrated down from Canada. Nowadays, they are one of the most famous foods to try in the French Quarter of New Orleans, typically served with a small mug of café au lait. When we can’t make it down to New Orleans for some authentic beignets, we turn to this no-fail recipe. Traditional homemade beignets require lots of flour, active yeast, shortening and a handful of other ingredients, but our shortcut version needs just three! Plus, they’re ready to eat in just 20 minutes (lucky you!). If you haven’t figured it out already (where have you been?!), we’ve got easy dessert shortcuts for just about every other sweet treat out there, too.