Beignets and Irish Cream!
Just when I was getting over glutting myself on King Cake, reader Foamheart sent me an email including photos of his Mardi Gras morning beignets. Now, I have to say, the photos made my mouth water, and I forgot all about King Cake. Give me a nice golden, crispy-on-the-outside and chewy-on-the-inside authentic beignet over King Cake any day!
Mounds of sugar-coated deliciousness vanish from plates by the thousands in places like Cafe Du Monde and Morning Call in New Orleans, drawing tourists year-round. However, down here on the bayou, we have our own dens of deliciousness that make beignets to rival those city slickers!
My favorite beignets are found at the Terrebonne ARC Cafe–and at 3 for $1.25 and $4.50 a dozen, you just can’t beat that anywhere. We started enjoying beignets at the Terrebonne ARC cafe when Danno was in a high chair. He’s now 26, so what does that tell you? And if something ain’t broke, why fix it? The recipe is still as good as it was back then and the prices haven’t changed much, either.
Pronounced “ben yay”, no matter how you say it, they are just plain delicious. Since I’ve never attempted home-made beignets (not to be confused with Houma Indian galatte, but similar), I’m happy to feature Foamheart’s “Uncle Goldie’s” beignets. He lives very near the Mississippi River where the traditional Christmas Eve bonfires still burn each year and where, evidently, we can eat fresh beignets on Mardi Gras morning if we happen to stop by!
Uncle Goldie's Beignets
Ingredients
- 1 cup Evaporated Milk
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 package Rapid Rise yeast
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- Pinch of fresh nutmeg
Instructions
- Pour the warm milk into a large bowl.
- Mix 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar, the yeast, and a heaping tablespoon of the flour into the milk, mixing with a whisk, until both the sugar and the yeast have dissolved.
- Once bubbles have developed on the surface of the milk and it begins to foam, whisk in the butter, salt, egg, nutmeg, and vanilla.
- Add the remaining flour and sugar.
- Knead the dough by hand in the bowl for about 5 minutes
- Divide the dough into 4-5 balls if you want to cook more than one day.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 6–8 hours.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
- Cut into 2-inch squares, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and allow the beignets to rise for about an hour.
- Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over high heat until it reaches 350°F.
- Use a candy thermometer to check temperature.
- Fry the beignets in small batches in the hot oil, turning them every 30 seconds or so with tongs, until golden brown all over.
- Use tongs to remove beignets from the oil and drain on paper towels.
- Put the powdered sugar into a fine-mesh strainer and dust the warm beignets generously with the sugar.
Here’s what Foamheart has to say about the recipe:
Listen this ain’t light bread dough, there is a whole stick a butter in these babies! A friend long ago showed me about dividing the dough into balls before the rise. It makes separating more easy cause unless its a formal Mardi Gras brunch this makes a bunch. 4 or 5 dozen easy. This way I can cook a little at a time for the next few days. Nice around Mardi Gras for when folks show up.
Now, for his Uncle Goldie’s Irish Cream:
1C Cream
14 oz Sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2C Irish whiskey
1t Instant coffee crystals – I use Community Dark Roast
2T Chocolate syrup (adding more does NOT help the flavor)
1cap Vanilla extract
Thank you, Goldie, for offering up these beautiful beignets for all to see and drool over! I hope to try these out in the BW test kitchen soon! Can’t wait to see what you send me next!
Looking forward to spring,
BW
Oh, chewycrispyhotsweetsavory beignets. I will love you forever.
It’s been a long time since we’ve had any, right?
Danno would like to be part of the taste testing of this recipe please!
Okay! Will do! You scarfed down some beignets in your days off the tray of the high chair! LOL!
That makes you an expert!
I am now hungry. These remind me of sopapillas w/powdered sugar, & I love those things with butter & honey. May have to try this recipe and the one for Irish Cream.
The difference is that sopapillas are little more “airy” than these. Beignets are dense inside and could not be filled with honey unless you used a pressure hose, LOL!!!!!
I just want to hang out with Foamheart for about a week or so.
Going across river this afternoon in Quad Cities to pick up Ari the new mutt.
Y’all should of heard local deejay destroy ‘Hubig’s’, then beejnetts would have strangled him. Roflmao.
Sounds like great food truck food will waiting for the brisket burritos to get done.
My man Miah don’t have a recipe?
Blu! You’re in my old stomping grounds. My dad and mom lived in Silvis when they married. He worked at Deere, and Mom worked on airplanes for a while and then on Arsenal Island. I had aunts and uncles in Moline and East Moline, and we spent lots and lots of time out there. Gosh, what I wouldn’t give for some of the good fried catfish we used to get at some place there along the river!
Ari the aussie got picked up in LeClaire. We zipped down to Bettendorf to spend some of my buddies money at this killer wood carving shop. blu can hardly write let along draw or carve.
Duck Creek Pancake house looked like it had been there forever.
Catfish was advvertised in windows…..
Well, the beignets look good, but I’m going to save myself and buy some somewhere. I certainly don’t need to be making a batch that size – I’d eat them all myself. And yes, I probably could. I can be persistent when need be.
I must say… it’s not nearly so enjoyable to have to scroll through all the facebook business now. I always enjoyed reading the comments here, but it’s much harder to pick them out from all the “likes”. Not that I won’t try, but I’m not sure I favor the change. I’ve never seen it this way anywhere – maybe it’s a new thing. I don’t keep up with new things. 😉
It has something to do with a setting that I’m not familiar with yet. My posts automatically post to Facebook, but this time, somehow, that feature decided to allow the FB LIKES to come on over here. It’s probably a toggle that I’m not aware of. I’ve deleted the likes, because I also find them distracting. Whatever you do when you find those beignets, don’t inhale when you take your first bite!
Been there, done that! It’s not a very pleasant experience.
My neighbor and I discovered we have all the ingredients for the Irish cream except for the instant coffee crystals. We’re going to get those tomorrow and give it a try!
Shoreacres, check your Email for another. I use the community dark crystals and messed up the second batch mistaking the little t. for a big T. The drink was good, but one drink and you buzzed all over the place getting all the work done for hours….LOL
Hope ya’ll like it. Bet you’ll make more.
Hehehehehehe….. It sure sounds to me like you may have also made some of these Jose Cuervo Christmas cookies, Foamheart.
http://board.jokeroo.com/funny-jokes/130038-jose-cuervo-christmas-cookies.html
I don’t mind telling ya I have been know to enjoy a bit of Senor Jose~ fine product, the yellow 1800 being my favorite. A friend introduced it to me after getting my taste buds burnt out with some mescal. And I have bitten the worm back.
But good yellow tequila is as good as any fine gentleman’s sippin whiskey I’ve ever had.
Anything in quantity will cross your eyes.
Please do let us know how you liked it, ok?
The winner of the Mardi Gras beads is Gue`! Congrats and please email me your address or fill in one of the contact boxes from any page! I’ll get those out to you next week.
ME? I won something? Wow. I guess my name was bound to percolate up to the top of a pile one day.
Those beignets look absolutely scrumptious. I certainly don’t need to be eating any right now. I’ve about popped out of everything I own. Like Shore, I’d eat one and then snarf down the entire batch.
I’ve given up chocolate for Lent. Again. What did Hubby come home with yesterday?
Yep. M&M Peanuts and 3 Musketeer bars.
One thing about being a non catholic I give up Lent for Lent seems to get me thru 40 plus days as crappie fishing picks up….
Curious about this recipe. First instruction says to add warm milk to bowl, but warm milk is not one of the Ingredients listed… Am I missing something? Thanks for any clarification you can offer. I want to make these!!!!
Hi Steve, and welcome to the bayou. This is a “guest” recipe, but from reading it again, I see a can of evaporated milk listed, and I assume you are to warm it on the stove, but do not boil it. Does this help? If you make them, please come back here and let us know how they turned out for you and any improvements/changes you might have successfully made to the recipe! BW