Beignet

The term beignet can be applied to two varieties, depending on the type of pastry. The French-style beignet in the United States has the specific meaning of deep-fried choux pastry.[5]

Beignets can also be made with yeast pastry,[6] which might be called boules de Berlin in French, referring to Berliner doughnuts, which lack the typical doughnut hole, filled with fruit or jam.

In Corsica, beignets made with chestnut flour (beignets de farine de châtaigne) are known as fritelli.

In Canadian French, doughnuts are referred to alternately as beigne or beignet.

In former French colonial empire in West Africa, a beignet is a small ball of fried dough, in Senegal sometimes made with millet flour rather than wheat, equivalent to a Puff-puff.[7]

Beignets from the Café du Monde in New Orleans

Louisiana-style beignets are square or rectangular fried pastries made from leavened dough rather than choux pastry. In New Orleans, they are best known as a breakfast served with powdered sugar on top.[5] They are traditionally prepared to be eaten fresh and hot before consumption. Variations of fried dough can be found across cuisines internationally; however, the origin of the term beignet is specifically French. In the United States, beignets have been popular within New Orleans Creole cuisine and may also be served as a dessert. They were brought to New Orleans in the 18th century by French colonists,[6] from "the old mother country",[8] also brought by Acadians,[9] and became a large part of home-style Creole cooking. Variations often include banana or plantain – popular fruits in the port city – or berries.[10][11] It is one of only two official state donuts—the only other one being the Boston cream doughnut, the state donut of Massachusetts.[12][13]

Ingredients used to prepare beignets traditionally include:

• Lukewarm water
• Granulated sugar
• Evaporated milk
• Bread flour
• Shortening
• Oil or lard, for deep-frying
• Confectioners' sugar

• 
  Beignets before frying
• 
  Piping choux pastry dough for beignets

• List of choux pastry dishes
• List of doughnut varieties
• Churro – Fried-dough pastry
• Cuisine of New Orleans – Culinary traditions of New Orleans, USA
• Lokma – Deep fried dough pastries
• Mekitsa – Dish made of kneaded deep fried dough made with yogurt
• Lángos – Hungarian deep-fried flatbread
• Puff-puff – African fried dough snack and pastry
• Sufganiyah – Round jelly-filled doughnut served at Hanukkah
• Zeppole – Italian pastry
• Fasnacht (doughnut) – Deep-fried German doughnut

• Yves Thuriès, French Pastry, ISBN 0-471-28598-6
• Rosana G. Moreira et al., Deep Fat Frying: Fundamentals and Applications, ISBN 0-8342-1321-4

• Media related to Beignets at Wikimedia Commons