Recipes

King Cake Beignets

The Daily Meal Staff|

King Cake Beignets
4.5 (2 ratings)
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Chef Kenneth Temple, "Chopped" champion, thought of this recipe to combine two popular Louisiana desserts. This recipe takes the light and airy dough of a beignet and blends in the colorful cinnamon flavors of a king cake. Proofing the dough would be best left to rest overnight, but you can also let the covered dough rest in a warm spot for 2 hours before proceeding to the next steps. This recipe is courtesy of chef Kenneth Temple.
Prep Time
15
minutes
Cook Time
8.42
hours
Servings
36
King Cake Beignets
Total time: 8 hours, 40 minutes
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup lukewarm water
  • 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 2 large brown eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 8 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup crisco shortening
  • canola oil for deep frying
  • 500 gram confectioners' sugar
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup evaporated milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 cup granulated sugar
  • red, blue, green and yellow plant based food coloring
Directions
  1. In a bowl, mix sugar, water and active dry yeast together and let sit for 10 minutes or until small bubbles begin to float to the top.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, kosher salt, and evaporated milk.
  3. Once the yeast is bubbling, add egg mixture to yeast mixture.
  4. In another bowl, stir the flour and cinnamon together two or three times.
  5. Attach the dough hook to stand mixer, add the wet mixture and 4 cups of flour into mixing bowl.
  6. Mix together on low for 1 minute.
  7. Add shortening and mix for 30 seconds.
  8. If you do not have a stand mixer, you will have to knead the dough by hand about 60 times or until dough forms a tight ball.
  9. Gradually add ½ cup of flour at a time.
  10. Mix until fully combined, and dough begins to come together and no longer sticks to sides of mixing bowl for about 8 minutes.
  11. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight.
  12. Roll dough out on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/8 inch, then cut into squares with a sharp knife.
  13. Preheat oil in a pot to 360 degrees.
  14. Fry beignets in batches of 4 for 2-3 minutes per batch.
  15. Turn over with tongs once or twice for even browning.
  16. Drain on paper towel-lined baking sheet.
  17. Keep batches warm in a 200-degree oven until you’ve finished frying.
  18. Dip slightly cooled beignets in icing, on one side, four at a time, and sprinkle with green, purple and yellow sugar, repeat until finished.
  19. Serve warm.
  20. To make the icing, mix the confectioner sugar, vanilla extract, evaporated milk and kosher salt together in a bowl.
  21. Place 1 cup of sugar into each of three bowls, each bowl is for a different color.
  22. For yellow and green sugar, use 18 drops of plant-based food coloring, mix together until sugar is evenly coated.
  23. For purple sugar, in a small bowl, mix 9 drops of red and 9 drops of blue plant-based food coloring, then mix with sugar until sugar is evenly coated.
 
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