foodie week: Tori's beignets

 ~ TORI'S HOMEMADE BEIGNETS: ARE YOU EVEN KIDDING ME?!?! ~

I know exactly what you're thinking: I have not put NEAR enough food on here the past few weeks.

So welcome to Wild Child Foodie Week!

Starting with the most AMAZING beignets I've ever had AND I MEAN IT 

 Here's Tori My Girl - yes, you recognize her cuz she's been on here before! I ADORE HER!

And she's going to culinary school and is so talented and lovable and fun and gorgeous!

She surprised Matthew with these beignets for his birthday but I'm sorry to say I ate almost every one :/

(I'm not really sorry to say that)

They were still freshly made - warm and sweet and ohhhhh so wonderful!

~

Some of you may not know what a beignet is, so I looked up a little history for us all:

The word beignet (pronounced bey-YAY) comes from the early Celtic word bigne meaning "to raise." It is also French for "fritter." Beignets, a New Orleans specialty, are fried, raised pieces of yeast dough, usually about 2 inches in diameter or 2 inches square. After being fried, they are sprinkled with sugar or coated with various icings. Beignets are like a sweet doughnut, but the beignet is square shaped and without a hole. Beignets are considered the forerunners of the raised doughnut. When you hear people in New Orleans say, "Goin'  fo' coffee an' doughnuts," they mean coffee and beignets. Beignet is one of the most universally recognized names for fried dough desserts which are basically fritter batter. For many years, beignets were shaped into balls or squares and covered with mocha frosting. Later the beignet was cut in the shape of a doughnut, and the raised doughnut was born. Beignets have been associated with Mardi Gras in France since at least the 16th century, and many recipes for beignets appear in French works around the same time. According to Food Historian Cathy Kaufman in her article, Where does the New Orleans’ Mardi Gras Beignet Come From? in the February 2009 Prandial Post: There is more circumstantial evidence supporting an Andalusian introduction of beignets into Mediterranean France. The Spanish name for yeasted fritters is “buñuelos,” and while I have not traced the etymology of the Spanish term, I would be surprised if it did not share a common root with the Provençal bugne.  Moreover, pets de nonne, deep-fried balls of airy choux paste, were known as “Spanish beignets” in the late Middle Ages, again associating deep-fried dough with Spain. Keeping in mind that Andalusia was under Islamic rule from the eighth until the end of the fifteenth century, many Islamic foods had ample opportunity to be integrated into what has evolved into Spanish cuisine.

I got this quote from ------------> What's Cooking America if you'd like to read more!

There is also a recipe and instructions to make your own if you're game!

Tori says the biggest trick to know, is to make SURE you use a thermometer for the hot oil!

The above bit of history also explained to me WHY the first time I was introduced to beignets, 

I was NOT in France.......but in ISRAEL! 

When I was a student in Israel at 18, bakeries making beignets were extremely popular.

They were a bit larger - but still square - and sometimes had jam or custard inside.

In fact, I spent my 19th birthday with my friends, exploring all those outstanding bakeries.  

Tori's beignets were amazing because they were doughy, moist, and dense - YUMMM!

They're not supposed to be light or flakey like, say, a cream puff or a pastry.

They're definitely sweet and scrumptious, little square doughnut-like pillows! MMMMM!

THANK YOU TORI!!!

xoxoxo