Beignets for Mardi Gras

These festive Dazzling Diamond Beignets will be sure to light up your Mardi Gras! Whether you’re having a party or just making them for fun, they are delicious and a great treat.

If you are unaware, Beignets are sweet puffs of fried dough covered in powdered sugar. They are an iconic New Orleans dessert that is perfect to serve at any Mardi Gras celebration.

I remember my parents coming home from a visit to New Orleans raving about these little sweet delicacies as if they were small puffs of edible gold. My mom isn’t a sweet eater, so hearing her gushing over a doughnut made me yearn to taste one.

That didn’t happen until just a few years ago when I learned to make them while attending the cooking class held at the Jekyll Island Hotel.  I fell instantly in love with the freshly fried puffs of dough covered in a sweet dusting of powdered sugar.

This year for Mardi Gras I decided to jazz up my beignets. I cut them into diamonds and tossed them in brightly colored powdered sugar. I’ll show you how to color powdered sugar in the instructions below.

This recipe was originally posted on February 28, 2011. I updated the recipe with better pictures and instructions. I hope you enjoy it!

Let’s make some Dazzling Diamond Beignets!

You’ll need:

active dry yeast – Yeast will give your beignets that nice puffed texture.
warm water – You want to activate your dry yeast in water that is between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
granulated sugar – Sugar will add sweetness to your beignets and will help them to brown nicely.
eggs – Adds richness and moisture to the beignet dough.
salt – A must when making sweets to help balance out the flavor.
evaporated milk – Adds moisture and a creamy flavor to the dough.
bread flour – Be sure to use this high-gluten flour to add lots of structure to the fried dough.
shortening – Helps to make the dough elastic.
vegetable oil – for deep frying
confectioners powdered sugar – To dust over the beignets. This adds more sweetness and can be colored to make these a fun Madi Gras dessert.
green, yellow, neon purple liquid food colorings – You’ll need to use liquid food coloring to color the powdered sugar. Grocery store-variety coloring works fine.

Special Equipment Needed:

food processor or food-handling gloves
3 paper bags
pizza cutter or knife
parchment or wax paper
deep fryer or stockpot

Instructions:

Water, sugar, and yeast resting for 10 minutes.                                  Yeast has activated and is bubbly.

step 1 – let the yeast bloom in sugar water

1. Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a large mixing bowl.
2. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow time for the yeast to activate.

step 2 – add egg, salt, and evaporated milk

1. In a small bowl, beat egg, salt, and evaporated milk together.
2. Pour this into the bowl of yeast.

step 3 – add flour and complete beignet dough

1. Add 3 cups of the flour and stir just to combine.
2. Stir in the shortening then add the remaining flour.
3. Stir until dough comes together in a ball.
4. Lightly flour your work surface.
5. Knead your dough until smooth.

step 4 – let beignet dough rise until doubled in size

1. Spray the inside of a large bowl with cooking spray.
2. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a towel or plastic wrap.
3. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours. The dough should at least double in size.

step 5 – color powdered sugar using food coloring

To make colored powdered sugar, I used a food processor to incorporate a few drops of liquid food coloring into the sugar but you can also rub food coloring into the powdered sugar with your hands.

Green, yellow (or gold), and purple (or magenta) are traditional Mardi Gras colors and it was easy to tint the sugar these colors using green, yellow, and neon purple colorings. If you can’t find neon purple coloring, just mix red and blue together to get a nice purple.

To color the powdered sugar.

1. Sift 1 cup of powdered sugar into the bowl of a food processor.
2. Add 30 drops of green food coloring.
3. Pulse for 15 seconds.
4. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the coloring from the bottom and sides of the bowl.
5. Pulse for 15 more seconds.
6. Add more coloring if desired and repeat.
7. Pour the colored sugar into a sifter and sift onto a large piece of parchment paper or wax paper.
8. Allow the sugar to dry until your beignet dough has risen.
9. Do the same for the yellow and purple colored sugar.
10. Once your colored sugars have dried, pour each color into a separate paper bag.

optional method of coloring powdered sugar

If you don’t have a food processor, you can use your hands. Be sure to wear food-handling gloves so you don’t stain your hands with food coloring.

1. Sift 1 cup powdered sugar onto a large sheet of parchment or wax paper.
2. Add 30 drops of food coloring to the powdered sugar.
3. Pick up some powdered sugar and rub both hands together in order to rub the color into the powdered sugar.
4. Continue to rub until you no longer see streaks or blobs of coloring on the powdered sugar and the sugar is nicely colored.
5. If needed, add more drops of coloring until you reach the desired shade.
6. Sift the colored powdered sugar onto a piece of parchment paper and allow it to dry.
7. Once your colored sugars have dried, pour each color into a separate paper bag.

step 6 – cut beignet dough into diamonds

1. Dust your work surface lightly with flour.
2. Roll the beignet dough out into a large rectangle (or several smaller ones) that is 1/4″ thick.
3. Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut strips at a diagonal going left to right across the length of the dough.
4. Now cut strips going from right to left creating diamond shapes out of the dough.

step 7 – fry the beignets

1. Preheat oil in a deep fryer or a stockpot to 370 degrees.
2. Place about 8-9 beignets in the hot oil.
   • They will sink to the bottom but very quickly float to the top.  Once they do, you’ll want to constantly flip the beignets over until they are golden brown on each side, about 30-45 seconds.
   • If you don’t flip the beignets often, they will form a bubble on the top side and you won’t be able to flip them over because they will stubbornly float with the bubble side up.

step 7 – dust beignets with colored powdered sugar

1. Place the hot beignets on a paper towel to drain the oil then immediately place a few of them in a bag of colored powdered sugar.
2. Close the bag and shake to coat.
3. Repeat until you’ve coated all of the beignets in colored powdered sugar.

step 8 – continue frying the beignets

1. Repeat, allowing the oil to come back up to temperature before frying more.
2. Don’t overcrowd the fryer or the temperature of the oil will get too low.

step 9 – enjoy eating your beignets

Enjoy your dazzling diamond beignets within 15 minutes of frying for the very best texture.  They are good for about an hour after frying. You can eat them up to two hours later, but they will be getting chewy.  After that, you’ll not want to waste the calories.  Fry up some fresh ones to enjoy.

How many beignets are in one batch of dough?

This recipe will make a lot of beignets. I actually didn’t count exactly how many one batch made, but I’ll guess it was about 80 of the 1″ diamonds.

You could of course make your diamond beignets larger if you like.

Can I refrigerate the beignet dough to fry more later?

Yes, you can keep the beignet dough in the refrigerator for up to a week and fry them up as you want them.

Beignets are best served warm out of the fryer, so I suggest refrigerating any extra dough after you’ve fried enough for your family or party guests to enjoy.

Printable Beignet Recipe

Print

Beignets

Prep Time

45 mins

Cook Time

1 min

 

Diamond-shaped beignets are fried until golden brown then are dusted with colored powdered sugar. These Dazzling Diamond Beignets make the perfect Mardi Gras dessert.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: beignets, doughnuts, Mardi Gras recipe

Servings: 80 beignets

Author: Beth

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm water, between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 envelope active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 7 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting work surface
• 1/4 cup shortening
• non-stick cooking spray
• 8 cups oil, for deep frying
• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• green, yellow, neon purple liquid food colorings

Instructions

1. Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a large mixing bowl.

2. Set the bowl aside for 10 minutes to allow time for the yeast to activate.

3. In a small bowl, beat the egg, salt, and evaporated milk together.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of yeast.

5. Add 3 cups of the flour and stir just to combine.

6. Blend in the shortening, then add the remaining flour.
7. Stir until dough comes together in a ball.
8. Lightly flour work surface.
9. Knead the beignet dough until smooth.
10. Spray the inside of a large bowl with cooking spray and set the dough inside.
11. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap.
12. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.

Colored Powdered Sugar

1. Pour 1 cup of powdered sugar into the bowl of a food processor.

2. To make green powdered sugar, add 30 drops of green food coloring.

3. Pulse for 15 seconds.
4. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the coloring from the bottom and sides of the bowl.
5. Pulse for 15 more seconds.
6. Add more coloring if desired and repeat.
7. Pour the colored sugar into a sifter and sift onto a large piece of parchment paper or wax paper.

8. Allow the sugar to dry on the parchment paper until the dough is ready.

9. Repeat this process to make purple and yellow powdered sugar using 1 cup of powdered sugar for each color.

10. Once dried, pour the colored sugar into individual paper lunch bags.

11. Preheat the vegetable oil in a deep fryer or a stockpot to 370 degrees.

12. Dust your work surface lightly with flour.

13. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle (or several smaller ones) that is 1/4" thick.

14. Cut the beignet dough into diamonds. (see the step-by-step instructions for details)

15. Place about 8-9 beignets in the hot oil.

16. Cook for about 30-45 seconds, flipping them often until they are golden brown.

17. Place the hot beignets on a paper towel to drain the oil, then immediately place them in a bag of colored powdered sugar.

18. Close the bag and shake to coat.
19. Repeat, allowing the oil to come back up to temperature before frying more.
20. Serve warm.

Recipe Notes

• Enjoy your dazzling diamond beignets within 15 minutes of frying for the very best texture.  They are good for about an hour after frying. You can eat them up to two hours later, but they will be getting chewy.
• Don't overcrowd the fryer or the temperature of the oil will get too low.
• If you don't flip the beignets often, they will form a bubble on the top side and you won't be able to flip them over because they will stubbornly float with the bubble side up.
• If you don't have a food processor, you can use your hands to make colored powdered sugar.
  1. Sift 1 cup powdered sugar onto a large sheet of parchment or wax paper.
  2. Add 30 drops of food coloring to the powdered sugar.
  3. Put on a pair of food handling gloves. 
  4. Pick up some powdered sugar and rub both hands together in order to rub the color into the powdered sugar. 
  5. Continue to rub until you no longer see streaks or blobs of coloring on the powdered sugar and the sugar is nicely colored.
  6. If needed, add more drops of coloring until you reach the desired shade.
  7. Sift the colored powdered sugar onto a piece of parchment paper and allow it to dry.

More festive Mardi Gras Recipes you might enjoy…

Pie crust crowns filled with delicious cheesecake mousse are topped with caramelized bananas. These Pastry Crowns are fit for a king and are a fun dessert to serve at your Mardi Gras celebration.

Colorful strands of beads are thrown to the rowdy crowds during every Mardi Gras parade so have some fun with this idea and make Chocolate Mardi Gras beads to serve your party guests.

For something savory, you can serve for Mardi Gras party guests a bowl of hearty Creole Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo topped with pie crust shapes like crowns and masks.