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+ servings
Tons of yellow, green, and purple sanding sugar fried beignets on a baking sheets.
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5 from 4 votes

Homemade Beignets for Mardi Gras

Deliciously fried pillows of sweet dough are sprinkled with a snowstorm of powdered sugar or drizzled with a sweet almond glaze and colorful sanding sugar.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
rising time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
Course: Breakfast and Brunch, Dessert, fried donuts
Cuisine: American
Servings: 36 donuts
Calories: 153kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 package 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
  • cups warm water 110-115 degrees
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • ¾ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup warm milk
  • 4 tablespoons butter at room temperature
  • 7 cups all-purpose flour
  • peanut oil

To Make the Almond Glaze

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • sanding sugar purple, yellow, green

Instructions

  • In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the honey. Set aside for 5 minutes to allow the mixture to get foamy.
  • In another small bowl, warm the milk and butter together. Not hot. Just warm to the touch.
  • Pour the yeast mixture into a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), and add the milk and butter mixture.
  • Add the eggs and granulated sugar to the yeast mixture, and beat to combine.
  • Stir in 4 cups of flour and stir well to make a smooth dough.
  • Turn the dough out and knead in the remaining flour until the dough forms a smooth, elastic ball.
  • Place the dough into a bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest and rise until doubled in bulk (approximately 1 hour).
  • Once risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press the dough into a rectangle approximately 24" x 16"
  • Use a knife or pizza cutter to cut the dough into approximate 3" squares.
  • Carefully heat the oil in the high sided frying pan to reach 375-degrees.
  • Carefully add 4 - 5 cut beignets to the hot oil and fry each side for 1-2 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Carefully flip the beignets and fry on the other side until golden.
  • Use a large slotted spoon or spider to carefully remove the fried beignets to paper towels to drain.
  • Continue frying the remaining dough.
  • Once cooled, liberally sprinkle the beignets with a liberal amount of powdered sugar.
  • To make the glaze:
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the 2 cups of powdered sugar, almond extract, and milk.
  • Drizzle the fried beignets with the almond glaze and immediately sprinkle the glaze with the colored sanding sugar.

Notes

-When using the sanding sugar, make sure to sprinkle the beignets when the glaze is still wet to make sure the sugar sticks to the glaze.
-The glaze dries quickly so you need to act fast in order to get the sugar to stick to the glaze.
-You can add the glaze to a zip top bag and snip the corner of the bag to make a mock pastry bag, Or you can drizzle the glaze using the tines of a fork.
Tools and equipment;
Thermometer (for proper oil temperature), large high sided pot (for frying), spider or large slotted spoon (for removing beignets from oil), large/medium/small bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, paper towels,

Nutrition

Serving: 1 | Calories: 153kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 83mg | Potassium: 41mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 65IU | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1.2mg