quick bread

beignets in bourboned butterscotch

Amy181 Comments

I would like to thank Louisiana and Kentucky for the French donut and the distinctly American spirit, respectively.  Without you, this dish of pillowy fried squares of sweet sorcery would have never been possible.

Beignets: You can make them from scratch, but Cafe Du Monde conveniently produces a boxed mix.  I got to visit the original Café Du Monde location in New Orleans this past summer. Though it was the afternoon and felt like 100-degrees outside, I still thoroughly enjoyed a plate of fresh french donuts and a Café Au Lait and chickory under the giant porch fans.  The ground at the outdoor café was practically covered in white powdered sugar, just like the donuts! This weekend our ground was covered in white, powdery snow – the perfect time to whip up some piping hot beignets.

I did a little more than beignets by deconstructing a dessert that I read online from Annisa Restaurant called Pecan and Salted Butterscotch Beignets with Bourbon Milk Ice (be still, my heart).  I looked up Chef Anita Lo’s new cookbook, Cooking Without Borders, and sure enough, the recipe was detailed inside!  I found out that she mixes pecans in the dough and then fills the fried donuts with butterscotch.  Homemade bourbon milk ice is served alongside the dish.

First, I made the bourboned butterscotch sauce so it could cool and thicken.  Then, I made the plain ol’ beignets and sprinkled them with powdered sugar.  I stacked them up, drizzled them with sauce and topped them off with whipped cream and pecans.  It was a butter pecan donut sundae cup!

My Bourboned Butterscotch Sauce Adapted from Anita Lo

1 C light brown sugar

3 T butter

1/2 T salt

1/2 C light corn syrup

2 T bourbon

1/3 C heavy cream

Plop together brown sugar, butter, salt, corn syrup and bourbon in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, mix ingredients together and lower the heat to med-high.  W/o stirring, let cook.  Once sauce is syrupy, remove from the heat and stir in cream until consistent.  Let cool.  Put some in a squeeze bottle for topping, and/or put in a small cup for dipping!

181 thoughts on “beignets in bourboned butterscotch”

  2. NOT FAIR! It’s a snow day here in northern Nevada (our first … oddly enough), and I’m STARVING!

    These look warm and amazing and rich and awesome. I’m very, very mad at you.

    😉

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  5. I recently had a beignets for the first time! Good to know there is a boxed mix for us baking impaired, I mean, novice. This sauce looks incredible, can’t wait to try it.

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    • yes! I recently saw the mix on the shelf at our local “Fresh Market” store, but also very easy to order online from Cafe Du Monde’s website!

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  11. OMG, love beignets already, but then bourbon and butterscotch?! I don’t know what to do with myself! I reposted on pinterest.com too with the link coming back to you!

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  18. OMGoodness…you had me at beignets but the addition of the bourboned butterscotch sent my inner foodie into overdrive! Thanks for sharing the recipe…cannot wait to try it! Congrats on being FP!

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  23. I think I would eat almost anything covered with bourboned butterscotch — the beignets put this WAY over the top! Thank you for sharing such sinfully delicious culinary creativity. (I’m not sure it ought to be legal to market beignet box mix.) It’s a good thing Lent is coming soon, because I have a feeling I’m going to need to give this up so it doesn’t do me in.

    Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!

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  26. OMG…these sound orgasmic! All my favorite things in one dish…be still my heart, indeed! Thanks for the recipes. Defintely not on my diet…but great for a special occasion.

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  39. Holy G-d you took one of my favorite things on earth–the beignet–and made it into heaven on earth! I have to make beignets at Afroculinaria but I don’t think I’m going to top this recipe! Absolutely fantastic! Thank you for sharing this 🙂

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  40. And be sure to thank the African American cooks of Louisiana since they brought deep fat frying and were the ones who made the sugarcane! Cafe Du Monde just put it all in a box 🙂

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  43. Another Beignet recipe!!! I made pumpkin ones last December and now I have another yummy sounding one to try out!! 🙂 Can’t wait now!!

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  51. I had beignets when I was in New Orleans — they were delicious, and the coffee at CDM was incredible. I tend not to pay attention to coffee as long as it’s hot and brown, but this stuff was amazing, even the decaf.

    Wish I had the slightest ability to deep-fry anything. I’d make those things if I did.

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  60. I was nervous about looking at this blog from the title, and it turns out I should have been. Today is week 8 of my diet, and your delicious description and easy to follow directions practically have me drooling at the thought of making these scrumptious beignets. Thanks so much for sharing, and the day that my diet ends will mark the day that I make these. I can’t wait!

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  63. As a born-and-raised Californian, I’ve never had the pleasure of experiening a beignet. ;( Thank you for the tip on the boxed mix, since I’m not very knowledgeable about baking…yet I am oh-so-eager to learn! I have a feeling that your blog will help me achieve this goal! 😉 I’m in my early thirties, so I’ve got to start sometime, right? 😉
    Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!

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  64. These look SO good….why did I have to see them on a Monday when my week is all about lean meats and veges??? I’ll tuck this away for an awesome Sunday morning sometime. Thanks…beautiful post!

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  65. You had me at beignets – next to crawfish etouffee, one of my favorite treats when I get to New Orleans. Last time I was there for beignets and chickory was in the middle of the night – perfect time for pig-outs and people watching. I’m not much of a cook but with a recipe like yours, I’m willing to try!

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    • it was my first time in NOLA, and I loved the food there. sounds fun to visit the cafe in the middle of the night!

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  67. Holy mother of all good food! I LOVE this blog already and I’ve only read the post title. Two of my guilty pleasures: bourbon and beignets. (Should I be polite and say, you had me at beignet!)

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  82. Ahhh…. I knew I shouldn’t have clicked on this blog! But how could I not when those delicious- looking treats were tempting me to come and take just one look. Man, did I pick the wrong day to give up sweets! Well…maybe next week. 🙂

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  89. I don’t know what a beignet is but anything covered in bourbon butterscotch sauce just has to be delicious. Love the photos and congratulations on being Freshly Pressed.

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  92. Mais chere’ this sounds great! Being a long time refugee from the “Big Easy” (you can take the cajun out of N.O., but you can’t take her out of the cajun) you made me home sick! Beignets (pronounouced ben-yays) are a delicacy that can only be enjoyed in the setting described in this post. Now, you make them sinful! Thanks for the taste of home (sniff, sniff). J.

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    • honored that you approve, and you are welcome for the taste of home! my time in the kitchen helps me “travel” 🙂

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  107. Had some this weekend that weren’t great. Huey’s used to be the only place in Atlanta that served the real deal beignets. Since it left, no luck. Just emailed this to my boyfriend so that we can try the recipe. Yum.

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  112. Those look amazing, I also went to Cafe Dumont when we went on a field trip to New Orleans in High School! My grandmother has the boxed mix on hand though and we have been enjoying them since childhood. Thanks for a great flashback!

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  120. Reblogged this on Lady Still and commented:
    Just one week after returning from New Orleans, I am still experiencing withdrawals from the amazing food.. Check out the following recipe, all I can think is YUM!

    Reply

  125. The bourboned butterscotch looks so yummy and creamy. Ah !! I would love me some beignets please. They look a lot like an Indian sweet called Shankarpali.

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  134. It just took everything in me to not lick the screen. Good Lord what a tease to only have a PICTURE of those beignets. I want a mountain of them, dammit!

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  135. The Cafe du Monde mix is good (just add water) and absolutely love Cafe Du Monde right off Jackson’s squre, but if you want to make the real deal for much cheaper than the mix, here you go. By the way, this batch makes about 2-5 dozen depending on how you cut them (2-3 dozen of the large 3 in x 3 in, 3-5 dozen if you go 1.5 in x 1.5 in)

    Beignets from scratch:

    1 pkg active dry yeast
    1 1/2 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
    1 1/2 cup sugar
    1 tsp. salt
    2 large eggs
    1 cup evaporated milk
    7 cup flour
    1/4 cup vegetable shortening

    oil for deep frying
    powdered sugar for dusting
    tongs
    Suggested: dough hook stand mixer

    Put warm water in a large bowl; sprinkle in the yeast and a couple teaspoons of sugar. Stir until dissolved. Let proof for 10 minutes. Add the rest of the sugar, salt, eggs, and evaporated milk. Gradually stir in 4 cups of the flour. Beat with a wooden spoon or with a dough hook on a mixer (Kitchenaid stand mixer is the best!!) until smooth and blended. Beat in the shortening. Add remaining 3 cups of flour about 0.5 cups at a time. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or let rise in a 100 degree F oven for 1 hour.

    — if you put it in the fridge you need to let this come to room temperature before cutting and frying otherwise your beignets will be FLAT —

    Roll the dough out on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/8 inch. The dough is wet and sticky, use plenty of flour to roll it out. For New Orleans style and size, cut into 3 in. x 3 in. squares with a sharp knife or a pizza dough cutter. (without a sharp cut, the steam will escape and the beignet will not puff). Heat the oil (about 2-3 inches deep in your pot) in a deep fryer to 370-380 degrees F. (Watch your temp all the way through the whole batch otherwise the first ones will be undone and the last will be burnt!). Fry the beignets 3 or 4 at a time until they are puffed and golden brown on both sides. (For consistency, drop them in and immediately flip them so that the oil equally seals both sides, otherwise one side might pop). Turn them over with tongs once or twice while frying. Drain each batch on a paper towel covered dish or cookie rack on cookie sheet. Place on a platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar (you can also put the sugar in a tupperware container with powdered sugar, put several beignets in, seal it with a lid, and shake) You may keep them warm in a 200 degree oven until you are done frying all the beignets.

    Bon Appetit!

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  143. Reblogged this on Real Southern Men and commented:
    Beignets have shown up recently in the Southern Sweets Showdown and are a quintessentially Southern dish, but you’ve never seen them quite like this. With the addition of Bourbon to the mix, it becomes even more Southerner … as if that were possible … or a real word. Now if we can just figure out how to add bacon…

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  147. You got my attention (and respect) by actually having the Cafe’ du Monde mix.
    You won my heart and stomach by adding liquor.

    New Orleans foodies welcome you as an honorary member in good standing.

    Reply

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