Beignets – or How to LIE to your Guests

One year… I figure I now owe the cooking gods one full year in purgatory.

To be fair, I got the idea for this from Mary at DEEP SOUTH DISH, one of my all time favorite bloggers (How has she not been found by the Food Network yet???). So, Mary is my Fagin to my innocent Oliver Twist… Mary, for the record, I am easily led astray. Be careful when you put temptation in my path…

A while back, Mary did an excellent post on making your own Beignets. You know, those New Orleans treats most often associated with cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter. Anyone and I suspect everyone who has visited the city knows of and sampled these treats. Squares of sweetened dough (extra sugar and evaporated milk), covered with generous amounts of powdered sugar. You can find her post on making AUTHENTIC Beignets by clicking HERE.

But she also gave a “cheater” version that I thought was funny at the time… And then Eve and the apple and Satan and temptation began working it’s ugly way with me. I had all the supplies on hand to make the legit Beignets. I did. I had company last week that I could make them for and I wanted to. I wanted to be authentic… I should have been authentic… But I wasn’t.

Get thee behind me Satan is what I should have said…

Temptation, thy name is DEEP SOUTH DISH MARY.

I beg for absolution. I beg the gods for forgiveness… As a penance, I must confess in full…

Here’s what I did…

Oil for frying…
Powdered sugar for generously dusting

and..

I can’t say it…

But I must confess in full…

and…

the final ingredient is…

A tube of refrigerator buttermilk biscuits.

I am so ashamed.

What would Bobby Flay say??? Paula Dean… Alton Brown… All would condemn me, and justifiably so.

But Bobby, Paula and Alton, it was so easy… Just cut each biscuit in half…

Fry in the oil and dust with the sugar…

And if you get up on the last morning your guests are staying, after force feeding them RUM Drinks night after night… after night after night; you can make these and hide all the evidence before they stumble out of bed (or floor if that was where they passed out).

I served these, and accepted the praise due a scratch baker. Without exception, these were accepted as authentic Beignets.

I am A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner.

Bobby, Paula and Alton… Bless me chefs for I have sinned.

!Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. I am ashamed that i can declare… I CAN COOK THAT! But then, who couldn’t???


Don’t do as I did… save yourself the guilt. Make from scratch. Ignore the needs of time and the desire to just wanting to get something on the table. The guilt is just not worth the convenience and great taste… Spend those hours in the kitchen. Ignore your family and guests and resist the temptations that are put in front of you.


OK, let me take my tongue out of my cheek for a second and do a little advertising for a GREAT FUN site…


I love bloggers! I was new to the world of blogging (and to cooking) just a few months ago. I went from hamburgers and hot dogs once a month to a 3 meal a day, 7 days a week cook. I needed help, and I found it. I am always thrilled to find new blogs. Without bloggers who provide insight you do not get from books, I would not be as brave as I am in the kitchen. Last month I was introduced to a wonderful opportunity. TASTE & CREATE is a cultural exchange program for bloggers. Click on the logo to the left, but the premise is simple…Once you sign up, monthly, you are paired with another blogger. Hopefully, someone you have never seen before. You take a look at their blog, hunt down a recipe that you find appealing and cook and post the results. You are introduced to a new recipe, and at the same time, because you dig a little deeper into a new blog, you find bits of personal information that gets you a new blogger buddy!


So, at the least, one day out of next month, you will have a topic for your blog. But at best, you get a new blog buddy, you get to try a new recipe and look at blogging from another person’s shoes!


In the next two days, match ups for this month happen. NOW is the time to sign up. Live on the wild side, it is a challenge, and it is rewarding… Contact Min at –

cowgirlmin07@gmail.com
She does the matchups and is handling the cyber paperwork. If you have any questions, drop Min a line. She would be thrilled to have some “New Blood”! It is a month by month commitment. So if you don’t care for the experience, dropping out is easy. But, you may just get hooked like I did… Click HERE to see the fun I had.





Min

Yes, I’ve made a Paula Deen coffee cake with a tube of dough too…delicious!

Just to clarify, Taste & Create is my friend Nicole’s baby…she is the creator, I’m just filling in for a few months while she renovates her new home. Be sure to visit her site @ http://tasteandcreate.rezimo.com/

Martha

They look delicious! I don’t remember where I got the idea but these were one of the first things I ever “cooked” back when I was a teen. I’m going to have to try them again. This is a perfect simple way to make them 🙂

I’m hoping to join Taste and Create when I have some time off in the summer, can barely keep up with things as is right now.

Tiffanee

Wow! Cool. I love it. My brother used to make these for us after school. Now I have a cool name for them. Thanks for the great reminder. No guilt…just goodness you served your guests.

~3 Sides of Crazy~

Dave, it looks like your faux pas is well applauded by your fans. Honestly if you hadn’t told us or shown us the picture of the can we wouldn’t have known they look so awesome.

Kristen

I needed that early morning laugh. Thanks, Dave! There is no way the Food Network chefs wouldn’t love a recipe just like this. Who even knows if they can cook without their prep chefs in the background doing most of the work!

Charlene

I was born and raised in Louisiana, and grew up eating these delectable morsels of fried biscuit dough. My mother made them, and yes, I confess, I make them, too. BTW, you can melt a little canned chocolate frosting and dip the fried dough in for a great tasting chocolate glazed version.

MrsJenB

Are you kidding? Paula would adore this recipe – I just watched her unapologetically make a coffee cake from canned biscuit dough the other night! It’s easy, caloric bliss. Girlfriend would be all over it, I think!