Beignets, French Donuts






The art of loving French donut

I grew with a big "amour" shared between carbon drink and sinful donuts (the one's with creamy filling or chocolate coatings and nuts). As most people I met, they find it startling that for someone who was born in Asia I was way far the paradigms of hot Jasmin tea or sweet sticky rice balls or any local sweets that we love to devour in Asia, that is normally good for health. Well, who can blame me if I find them truly irresistible.

So discovering that there exist not even one shop of my favorite American donut in France (not even their competitor) this broke my heart into million pieces. So I presume you imagine how I react everytime we are outside France and there is an opportunity to enjoy my favorite: I consume in the average 2-3 donuts per day. My french family would often ask me how could I eat that? For they really consider it bad for health. Fried in deep-oil then stuffed later on with heavy filling and coated lastly with lots of nuts, chocolate and sugar. I know we are not getting any younger and that eating healthy food is essential at all cost. But I always believe that we have right to these little pleasures of life without explosing too much our arteries from time to time.

I'll be sending these donuts over at Ruth (Ruth's Kitchen Experiments) for her Bookmarked Recipes. Just check out the link to know more about the details.


By the way, I'll be posting the round-up of my Perfect Party Dishes this week. A big hug and thanks again to all the participants. I'll be announcing the winner and the prize, so stay tune!




Beignets or French Donuts

-These are pastries made from deep fried dough. It can be sweet powdered with sugar, with fruits or it can also be savory. This recipe is taken from a old french gourmet magazine (Cuisine Gourmand April 2005 edition)

150 g of flour
1 tablespoon of orange water
50 g of sugar
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 egg
10 cl of warm milk
1 sachet of dry yeast
a pinch of salt
cooking oil for deep frying
and icing or granulated sugar for coating

Dissolve the dry yeast in warm milk. Separate the egg yolk from the white. In a bowl put the flour, half of the sugar, the salt, the orange water, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and the egg yolk. Mix them well. Then add the yeast-milk mixture in the flour. Mix well and let it stand for three hours. Whisk the egg white until it becomes firm, then add the rest of the sugar. Mix them well. Add this mixture on the dough and combine them until it becomes homogenous. Warm your oil in a deep frying pan. Scoop a spoonful of your dough and slide it directly to the warm oil. It should be cook on both sides until its golden brown, about five minutes. After cooking dry them in

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I find the recipe a bit runny. The original recipe calls for additional of 10 cl of beer, that I did not add because the dough was already too watery. I added more flour about 50 grams to find the consistency I wanted. I suggest you could also also put some honey or spices (cinnamon, nutmeg) to this recipe. While cooking it is advisable to deep fry them with lots of oil. You can also coat them with some sesame seeds and honey.




Other sweet recipes:

Ile Flottante
Lemon Yogurt Mini-Cakes
Matcha Mint Cupcake



30 comments:

Manggy said...

I assume you are talking about Dunkin Donuts? I grew up with them as well... I keep wanting to eat donuts but never make them! I think it's time to remedy that, perhaps starting with your delicious beignets :)

By the way, sorry I wasn't able to participate in the party food event... I keep going back to my recipes and they don't look like crowd-feeders :(

Anonymous said...

Delicious! Nice pix gurl... nice shot!

happy WS.. mine is up too... hope you can visit!

Emily said...

I like the way you think!

These look delicious. I hardly ever get to eat donuts. But I love em.

Anonymous said...

You are a real pro in the kitchen for making your own donuts - and french version, no less! :D

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow Wow yummy yummy looking recipes.

Lore said...

I love watching beignets while they get deep fried :D. I'd eat 10 a day if I'd only be thinking about they yummy taste! Yours look delicious :)
Looking forward to the round-up and my tummy is ready too :P

Bunny said...

Oh Dhanggit these look so good,you can eat 2 or 3 cause they're little if you can STOP at that many!

Ruth Strong said...

Hey, great donuts!!! Look so yummy.

Looking forward to seeing the round up, sorry I didn't get time t make something.

daphne said...

Beer in mixture for donuts? It will be interesting to find out how that taste like. =)

Those little treats look decadent yet fulfilling. Would love to pop more in my mouth!

SandyCarlson said...

Sure does look good!

Adam said...

Firstly, I like how we spell donuts the same way. Some people put a g or h in there, and it confuses me.

I agree with the idea that you do in fact have to live... and enjoying something like this can be very important so you don't go mental.

Love the idea of honey and sesame seeds :) And what really is cool about your blog is the mix of some Asian dishes and French ones :)

Rosie said...

Oh Dhanggit these look so delicious!!

Sorry sweetie I wasn't able to participate in the party food event - I missed out on so much last month when I was away :(

Rosie x

Oggi said...

Donuts! Oh I love the plain glazed Krispy Kremes...I can eat 2 or 3 in one sitting.:D
Your lovely photos have nudged me to make the box of beignets mix that has been sitting in my pantry for months now.:)

Little Corner of Mine said...

very cute looking donuts!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

I remember my first beignet -- at the famous Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. One bite, and I was hooked -- and the only thing that saved me was that we only spent a week in the city! Every time we go visit New Orleans, it's the first place I want to go.

Nazarina A said...

Love your rendition of the beignet! Pity I do not have one here with my cup of java!

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Donuts and beignets are wonderful things and you're right we should endulge from time to time! We don't have famous brand's donuts, but we still can find some basic ones here in Portugal. Wanna come here and have some with me?

Anonymous said...

it looks good to me.. i bet i could eat 5 in a day. hehehehe

T’s Treats said...

Those look wonderful, far from Dunkin Donuts ;)..I would much rather have yours with a nice hot cup of tea!! Yum!

maybelles mom said...

delicious, delicious. with thai iced coffee to dip these in, it would be heaven.

Deeba PAB said...

I bookmarked these off Ruth's bookmarked round-up the minute I saw them! Love them Dhhangit...& I can see the kids are in for a treat very soon!! Dumb question again...how much is 10cl? Cubic Litres right? What should I be looking at in my measuring cup...is it just me? BTW, just as well Manggy's not into kiddie eats; he would have swept the awards!! LOL

Half Baked said...

drool! i love any doughnut! yours look delicious!

Mama Mia said...

YOur photos are just so beautiful! It makes me want to really lick the screen for reals! By the Way I am passing on two awards to you. Check out my site. :)

Anonymous said...

These look so good I'm eating my monitor.

Deborah said...

There's nothing better than a hot donut!! Delicious!

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

You know, you're only having donuts when you're not in France. So, really, not everyday. ;)

But these look so delicious. Fresh off the fryer, I'd be diving for them.

Natalie Que said...

2-3 Donuts a day?! Did I read that right? You look tiny, like a size negative 2 -how is this possible!?!

Your Beignets look amazing. I want to jump through the screen right now! I will be making these for sure!

And I thought you looked Asian! But France is a multi-heritage nation so I didn't think much of it. Where in Asia are you from? I love Asia, and I too am flabbergasted by your love of sweets. No one likes sweets {that I met anyway}! I feel like the American, fat pig when I am there basically sucking my desert through a straw.

Chef Jeena said...

This is amazing I love foods like this for a treat yum!

tigerfish said...

I can have these with just black coffee! :)

haze said...

Perfect for breakfast! Next time teach me how to do this on live, pleeeaaasseeee :D ! Bises