Baking Beignets Is The Less Messy Way To Enjoy This Classic New Orleans Treat

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Before they became synonymous with New Orleans, beignets were classic French pastries, fried to light and airy perfection. Cafe du Monde remains the New Orleans gold standard, cranking out thousands of powdered-sugar covered beignets to enjoy fresh out of the fryer. But these puffy, chewy fried dough balls can be made at home using similar steps. Better still, you can avoid the mess of oil spatter by baking beignets in the oven.

Beignets, like conventional donuts, are essentially yeast bread dough fried for a fluffier and more decadent flavor and texture. But the oven is a much more common vessel for baking yeast-based breads, so it's easy enough to make the transition from the deep fryer to the oven. You'll save the mess and the calories of oil, without losing the beautiful rise and pillowy texture. To bake beignets, use the same dough mixture that we use in our recipe for New Orleans beignets, which requires a resting period. After slicing the dough into the characteristic beignet squares, you'll space them out on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet to slide into the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for between 12 and 15 minutes. A brushing of egg-wash will provide a buttery richness and help the exterior brown beautifully without the help of hot oil. Similar to fried beignets, baked beignets taste best fresh out of the oven.

The oven will save you the oily mess while certain other ingredients, like yeast, will save you prep time. Some recipes use active dry yeast, but instant yeast is a better alternative because you don't have to proof it; you can add instant yeast directly to the dry ingredients instead of waiting for dry yeast to activate in warm water. You can ensure your yeast is fresh before incorporating it into your dry ingredients with this easy trick. Along with fresh yeast, you want to give the yeast dough time to rise and double in size. As the yeast dough rises, it fills with air which is crucial to a light and fluffy crumb. The dough is pretty wet and might be a little hard to form with your hands, so using a standing mixer like this Kitchen Aid model available on Amazon will certainly help.

While 15 minutes in the oven may seem longer than the quick three-minute frying time, a baking sheet has room for much larger batches, and you don't have to wait for the beignets to drain on a cooling rack to rid them of excess oil. That said, you should brush the beignets with melted butter when you take them out of the oven for added richness and to help the powdered sugar stick to the surface. You can also swap powdered sugar for a dusting of sugar and cinnamon or serve beignets with these Bonne Maman strawberry preserves.