Cinnamon Sugar Beignets
Hope you're having a fabulous day everyone! How about you make your day 10x better by making these Moroccan inspired beignets. These beignets are a mixture of 2 ideas: Moroccan sfenj (basically a fried donut) and New Orleans beignets. This recipe requires very few ingredients and all of them are staples you already have in your kitchen. It's super soft and it's coated in a light cinnamon sugar mixture making it pleasantly sweet that boosts its overall flavor. I love having this for breakfast; it's super versatile and if you don't like starting off your day with sugar you can skip the sugar mixture and drizzle honey over it or dip it in jam. It tastes AMAZING either way! It might seem intimidating to make at first glance but I promise you it's fairly easy, just be brave. You got this :) If you'd like more tips and tricks to nail this recipe and would like to learn how to use yeast, check out the full post on my blog here.
Happy making!
-Sarah
Cinnamon Sugar Beignets
Recipe details
Ingredients
- 2 tsp. dry yeast
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup lukewarm water
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- ¼ cup milk
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
Cinnamon Sugar Mixture
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3-4 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, pour warm water and sprinkle your yeast on top of it. Add the sugar and give the liquid a good stir. After a couple of minutes it should start to look cloudy. Let it sit at room temperature for around 5-15 minutes (depending on the temperature of your environment). You will know it’s ready when the mixture has turned foamy.
- Add your salt, egg, milk, vanilla extract, and butter. Then mix until everything is well incorporated.
- Add the flour to the wet ingredients and mix. When it becomes dough-like, take it out of the bowl and knead it. Then put it back into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a towel, and allow for it to rise (for about an hour).
- After it has risen, take it out of the bowl and onto a floured surface. Roll it out with a rolling pin until it is about ½ an inch thick. Cut out the dough into large circle shapes with a smaller circle in the middle of it using a cookie cutter (donut shape).
- Place the donut shapes on a baking sheet or surface with parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let it proof for about 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours depending on your environmental conditions.
- Using a deep saucepan or large frying pan, pour oil to about 3-4 inches deep in order to allow the beignets to float on the surface of the oil. Preheat the oil to around medium heat (365F), and slowly place the beignets into the heated oil using a slotted spoon or if you're super careful you can get away with slipping the donut into the pan using your hand. Fry the donuts, three or four at a time depending on the size of your pan, in the oil 2 to 3 minutes or until they are golden brown, turning the donuts once halfway through. After they're done, place the beignets on a paper towel for excess oil to drain. Repeat with all the dough.
- After frying all the beignets, coat them in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Serve warm.
Tips
- Make sure all ingredients are room temperature before starting.
- Please make sure your yeast is not expired before you start, this may ruin the end result.
- When allowing the dough to proof, make sure that your environment is pretty warm (around 80ºF-90ºF as this is the optimal temperature where yeast activity is at its peak). Too low of a temperature and you might have to wait a lot longer for your dough to rise, too high of a temperature and your yeast is dead.
Comments
Share your thoughts, or ask a question!
You forgot to add the milk in the directions . I’m assuming it goes in at the same with all the wet ingredients after the yeast is activated?
This is a traditional Greek desert called loukoumas and we usually eat it for breakfast with milk or juise and emit cinnamon. Kids love it as a snack after swimm in summer. It evoked so many memories!