Beignets -- French for Donut Holes :)

Hello Friends,
Today was my second attempt at Beignets, which is a fancy way to say donut holes.
They are delicious!! -- in any language.
So soft and airy; addicting beyond belief.
I'll share the recipe and what I learned in making them.

What I learned, and hopefully will help you when you're making them:
1. This recipe makes a lot of beignets, so unless you're feeding your child's school; make half the recipe.

2. It says to roll the dough out and cut into 1 inch squares -- well, I wanted to drop them like a dumpling into the hot oil like I saw on the Food Network show "Chopped." Don't do that; follow the recipe because they are too thick otherwise. I had much better luck today when I made mine about 2 inches x 2 inches, so that's a little bigger than the recipe, but they worked just fine.

3. The recipe says to heat the oil to 350 degrees; well, that was too hot for my beignets. They were brown in seconds and doughy in the middle; so, I heated my oil to about 250 degrees and they did just great. Use a candy thermometer to gauge the temperature. When frying, I took the oil off the flame if the heat got out of control. You will have to see how your range works with the oil and how quickly it cooks the beignets; adjust the heat as needed.

4. One last thing: I didn't have time this morning to let it rise for 2 hours, so I only let it rise for 1 hour and they still turned out great; almost better than the first time. You decide for yourself.

Here's the recipe; Enjoy!

This recipe is from one of my favorite Food Network stars -- Paula Deen. My all-time fav is Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (between 100 - 110 degrees)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast -- 2 1/4 tsp.
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup evaporated milk
7 cups bread flour
1/4 cup shortening
Nonstick spray
Oil, for deep-frying (use a small to medium saucepan, and fill oil to about 1 - 2 inches deep)
3 cups powdered sugar -- just put a couple of scoops in a ziploc and add more if needed; you may not need this much.

Directions:
Mix water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, salt and evaporated milk together.
Mix egg mixture with the yeast mixture.
Add 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
Add shortening and continue to stir while adding the remaining flour.
Remove dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray.
Put dough into bowl and cover with plastic wrap or towel.
Let rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees.

Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 1-inch squares (or 2 inch squares).
Deep fry, flipping when one side is light to golden brown.
After beignets are fried, drain them for a few seconds on paper towel.
Toss them with powdered sugar in a ziploc bag.

Enjoy!!