Tiana's Famous Beignets

Tiana's Famous Beignets were delicious!!! Light, fluffy, square doughnuts, what's not to love? They are my favorite breakfast food! My daughter helped mix the ingredients and pat the dough down, I did everything else. They are not perfect but they were delicious! 

We fried them in our deep fryer but they didn't puff how I wanted them to and ended up being a bit lopsided. I think if the dough was thicker it would have been easier to fry them and they may have looked more square. I'll have to try adding some more flour next time.

Here's the recipe we used:

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups flour (and additional for dusting)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup buttermilk* 
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)
• Honey (optional)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine 2 3/4 cups of the flour with the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Whisk everything together. In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk*, water, egg, and vanilla extract. Then mix in the flour mixture. Dust your work surface with some flour and place the dough on it. Pat or roll the dough into a large 1/2 -inch-thick square, you can dust with more flour if it gets sticky. Next, slice the dough into 2 1/2 -inch squares.


To fry the beignets, you can either use a deep fryer or 2 inches of vegetable oil in a heavy saucepan. If you use a saucepan, heat the oil until it reaches 325°F on a deep-fat thermometer and keep an eye on the temperature while cooking and adjust the heat accordingly. Then, carefully drop 2-3 dough squares at a time into the hot oil. Fry them for about 2-3 minutes, turn flip and continue frying for 2-3 more minutes. Using a metal or silicone slotted spoon (plastic could get damaged), transfer the beignets to a wire rack set atop paper towels to drain (if you don't have a wire rack a plate with paper towels on it works). Dust the beignets with confectioners’ sugar or drizzle with honey (or both) and enjoy!

*you can substitute with lemon juice or vinegar and milk. Put 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup and fill the rest of the cup to the one cup mark with milk.

Recipe adapted from the book: Disney's The Princess and the Frog Tiana's Cookbook Recipes for Kids. Copyright © 2009 Disney Enterprises, Inc. Published by Disney Press, an Imprint of Disney Book Group.