Chocolate Lavender Beignets

Donuts. Beignets.  Fritters, Doughnuts (I do believe this is the Canadian spelling vs the American!).  Whatever you want to call these babies, they will still taste delicious.  Come on, anytime yeasted dough hits some hot oil, good things are bound to happen.

This time around, I decided that the classic beignet (which is really just the French word for fried doughnut or fritter) that classic doughnut that a trip to New Orleans must include (Cafe du Monde being the ultimate destination) needed a bit of a makeover.

Frying doughnuts is nothing new.  I love frying up fritters or zeppole.  See my Rhubarb Cardamom Fritters! They are just so easy to whip up.  The dough doesn’t take a long proof time, and you have total control as to how small you want to make them. But of course, most usually come in one flavour.  Beige.  So the powdered sugar on top becomes the star.  And the more sugar, the better.  Now, I’m not averse to sugar, any more than most of you out there.  Of course it’s all about balance.  If you know you’re going to be partaking of some sugar, you may decide on salad for lunch or dinner.  And omit the sugar in that extra cup of coffee.  And I don’t know about you guys, but I really don’t eat sweets every day (despite what it may appear like on this blog!)  I can go absolute days without any added sugar in my diet.  I’m not going to count the natural sugar found in fruit or a small piece of good quality chocolate.  

So, beignets.  Like most occasions that involve a lovely doughnut, these are classic little bites, best served with a steaming cup of coffee or a cafe au lait.  And ideally, sitting on a street side cafe table, people watching with your best friend or hubby.  Two cups of hot coffee or chocolate, and a fancy plate piled high with these fresh little doughnuts. absolutely blizzarded with icing sugar, this is what everyone pictures when they think of beignets.  

Fine, my kitchen is no where near New Orleans.  I don’t have a little cafe table with two chairs that look like they were snatched from a Paris restaurant.  And I probably use less icing sugar than tradition calls for.  But these little morsels that I’m sharing today will still make the best little coffee break, or a perfect weekend breakfast for your family.

I need to tell you, I have tried so many beignet recipes through the years.  Most with so-so results.  Sadly, instead of the pillowy, fluffy doughnuts, they were often too tough.  Or else the directions were muddy,  not easy to follow, or didn’t make sense.  After trying so many, I thought I had given up, when I tried this one from Jo Cooks.  It worked perfectly.  And would be the jumping off point for my chocolate and lavender beignets today.

This is a yeast dough that you will be happy to work with.  It comes together so quickly and easily.  The yeast, sugar and warm water sit together for a few minutes to get started.  Then an egg is beaten with milk and this gets added to the yeast mixture.  Flour is added to your mixer, along with a touch of salt.  Then the liquids along with some softened butter are added, and it all gets mixed with your dough hook (or you can easily do this by hand, it’s not a stiff dough) until it no longer sticks to the walls of the bowl.  This may take 5 minutes in total.  This lovely soft ball of dough is placed into an oiled bowl to proof.  This should take about 2 hours, depending on how warm your kitchen is.  Alternatively you can proof it in the fridge overnight, thus eliminating any wait time (it’s proofing while you sleep)  This means that you can get up in the morning and start right away on the important part, the frying!

You’ll take the dough from the bowl and roll it out to about 3/4 inch thick (that’s 2 cm to you metric lovers!) At this point you can cut them into squares, rectangles, diamonds, whatever your little heart desires.  A square of 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) makes for a perfect bite sized treat.  I wouldn’t cut them any larger than 2 1/2  (7 cm)  I use a pizza cutter, but you can use a sharp knife if that is all you have.  All the while the oil is heating up in your pot.  I use a wok.  A cast iron dutch oven will work great as well.  You only need about 2-2 1/2 (5-7 cm) inches of oil.  Bring it up to 360 degrees F. Or about 180C.  Use an instant read thermometer to help you maintain the temperature. Gently add around 4 doughnuts to the oil (depending on the size you’ve cut) and let them bubble about 50 seconds per side. Turn over using a slotted spoon or spider (that long strainer that has a wire mesh bowl at the end- often used when frying food in a wok.  The wider mesh allows more oil to drip back into the pot) Keep turning until golden brown and puffed.  Depending on the size you’ve cut, this shouldn’t take any longer than 2 minutes or so.  Transfer the batch of doughnuts to a paper towel lined plate.  You can fry them all up, or you can freeze some of the cut doughnuts on a baking sheet till frozen and then store in the freezer till you have another craving.  Once you’ve fried up your doughnuts, dust them most liberally with powdered sugar.  You could also try dusting them with cocoa powder for a dramatic look.  They won’t be as sweet, but it makes for a very sophisticated flavour.  Maybe you could dust with both!  Do what floats your boat!!

So that is the basics of this fun little doughnut.  Here comes my take on them. I think everything is better with a bit of cocoa, don’t you think?  And if I’m going to add cocoa, then why not go the extra mile, and add some lavender?  Now, adding lavender can be tricky.  Add too much, and it takes on an a perfume-y or soapy nature.  And you can’t really just add the dried buds.  That makes for a yucky texture.  So how would I get lavender, which works so beautifully with chocolate into my doughnuts?  Lavender sugar.  I just so happen to have some in my baking cupboard. 

Making lavender sugar is so darn easy.  For every 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, you’ll need 1 tsp of dried lavender buds.  You could use a mini food chopper to break down the buds.  Or you can use a mortar and pestle to break them apart.  It isn’t hard, they aren’t that tough.  That’s why I don’t bother pulling out a chopper.  Add the ground buds to your sugar, stir to mix and place in a glass jar.  After a day, you will already notice that the sugar has taken on the most lovely scent.  You can use this in any baking, the pleasant lavender notes work great with vanilla, chocolate, lemon, blueberries.  You can also use it to flavour hot tea or ice tea.  Just don’t use this sugar if it needs to be heated and melted in any way- the lavender bits won’t fare well on the heat.  They will burn and turn everything bitter.

So, to the original recipe, I would replace the sugar with lavender sugar.  I would replace two tablespoons of the flour with unsweetened cocoa powder.  Make sure you sift the cocoa first.  It tends to clump, and it is impossible to break them all down after they are in the flour.  I just use a small strainer to push the cocoa directly into the flour.  Everything else stays the same.  At then the finish, after that most delightful dusting with icing sugar, by topping them off with a few lavender buds.  Now you’ve got a gussied up doughnut.  These are best served warm.  Just add that steaming cup of coffee, cafe au lait, or even hot chocolate.  Here in Toronto, it is still wickedly cold, so hot chocolate is definitely warranted!  Depending on the size you make, I guarantee you, it will be hard to stop at just one.  As an option, I love serving them with a bowl of chocolate sauce on the side for dipping or drizzling.  Just gilding the lily!

For the frozen doughnuts I mentioned above:  Follow the recipe to the point of cutting up the dough.  Take the amount that you wish to freeze, and place them on a lined baking sheet.  Place this in the freezer.  Once frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag.  When you’re ready to fry up a few, thaw them and continue with the recipe, frying and dusting with icing sugar.

Love Jen

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Chocolate Lavender Beignets

Pillowy, fluffy, easy fried yeast doughnuts are always a treat.  Adding chocolate and lavender sugar makes them even more special.  

Course Dessert

Prep Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes

Servings 20 beignets

Ingredients

Lavender Sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp dried lavender buds culinary grade

Beignets

• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast or 1 envelope
• 5 tbsp lavender sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour Important: replace 2 tbsp of flour with 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, use a small strainer to sift the cocoa powder into the flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter unsalted and softened
• vegetable oil for frying
• powdered sugar for dusting
• lavender buds for garnish optional

Instructions

Lavender Sugar

1. In a mortar and pestle, crush the lavender buds. Place in a small bowl.

2. Alternatively you can place the lavender buds into a small food chopper or blender and grind up coarsely.  

3. Add the granulated sugar and toss well to combine. Store in a small glass jar.

Beignets

1. In a small bowl combine the water, yeast and sugar. Whisk it all together a bit and let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast dissolves and starts to froth up.
2. Once the yeast has dissolved, add the egg and milk, and whisk.
3. To the bowl of your mixer add the flour and salt. Add the cocoa powder by passing it through a small strainer first to get rid of any lumps. Use a whisk to combine everything well.
4. Add the yeast mixture and butter to the bowl. Using the dough hook, mix it well until well incorporated. You will know that the dough is done when it comes clean from the sides of the bowl.
5. This isn't an overly stiff dough. So you could actually work this with your hands in a bowl, kneading gently till well combined.
6. Remove the dough from the mixer and place it in an oiled bowl. Cover it with a clean damp towel or plastic wrap and let it sit and double in size, anywhere from 1 to 2 hours, in a warm place.
7. Alternatively you can place the covered bowl into the fridge to proof overnight. This way you can get directly to frying up the doughnuts the next morning.

8. Roll out the dough in a long rectangle that's about 3/4 of an inch in thickness. Cut the dough in long strips then cut the strips to form squares. Or use a ruler to determine what size you would like. Anywhere from 1 inch squares to 2 inch squares or rectangles are great. Don't go any larger.

9. Add about 3 inches of oil to a deep frying pan. I use a wok. Before frying the beignets make sure the oil is hot, it needs to be 360 F degrees (180C). Fry the beignets, about 5 or 6 at a time until golden brown on both sides. Make sure you turn them on both sides to fry them evenly. Depending on the size and maintaining your oil temperature, this shouldn't take any longer than 2 minutes per batch.
10. Transfer the beignets to a large plate or bowl lined with paper towels to drain some of the excess oil. Using a small strainer, dust beignets with plenty of powdered sugar. You can also use cocoa powder for a more sophisticated flavour.
11. Garnish with extra lavender buds.

Recipe Notes

To freeze beignets before frying, take the cut up pieces and place them onto a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Freeze.  Once frozen you can transfer the doughnuts to a freezer bag.

When ready to enjoy some, pull out as many as you want. Let  them thaw and proceed with the recipe.