Perfect Pillowy Beignets

Dessert Person with Claire Saffitz • Season 13 • Episode 10

About this episode

It’s faith-restoring when a food item (or anything, for that matter) lives up to the great hype surrounding it, so it was an affirming experience when I had my first beignets at Café Du Monde in New Orleans several years ago. Beignets are squares of fried dough similar to donuts, and even with high expectations, I found the chewiness and lightness of the ones at Café Du Monde miraculous. I have wanted to re-create something similar ever since, and this is my attempt. Though it’s the only yeasted recipe in the book, these beignets are straightforward to make and, deep-frying aside, hard to mess up because they shouldn’t look too uniform or neat. Like the ones at Café Du Monde, my beignets start with a wet dough (one of the keys to the large interior holes) and emerge from the fryer as airy pillows. When I say to generously coat them in confectioners’ sugar, I mean generously, and serve with a cup of coffee.