They are not donuts and don’t even have those telling holes in the center. Yeah, they are soft like donuts. They also covered in a ton of white, velvety powdered sugar, as many donuts are. And, they go great with coffee. Err, coffee of the chicory variety, that is. Does this give you a hint as to what kind of pastry we are talking about?
Beignets have been popular in New Orleans for 300 years and are traditionally enjoyed as a dessert alongside a piping hot cup of French-style chicory coffee.
These donut-like treats were brought to Louisiana in the 18th century by the French and quickly integrated themselves within home-style Creole cooking. Early Beignet recipes often featured banana or plantains as an ingredient.
Today, Café du Monde is a popular New Orleans food destination specializing in Beignets with powdered sugar (you get three per order) and coffee with chicory, of course.
The oldest and most popular Café du Monde (there are now 8 locations in and around New Orleans) is located in the French Quarter of New Orleans and is basically an outdoor café with some inside seating. As a building, it is fairly non-descript. But as a tourist destination, it is on everybody’s itinerary – especially those with tired feet and an appetite for sweets.
In fact, you really haven’t gotten to experience New Orleans until you’ve won the rubber match in the battle for the third Beignet on the plate. These fried pastry darlings are, indeed, worth fighting over.
On a recent four day visit to the “Big Easy” we stopped at Café du Monde five times. The last time was a pre-airport run for goodies to bring back home. A serving of three standard Beignets cost a meager $2.00.
Café du Monde sells their Beignet mix in a box, but we’ve never been able to duplicate the exact same look and taste experience of the real deal.
If you look hard enough the pre-packaged mix can be found at some gourmet stores and supermarkets in many areas. Or, you can order it online from Café du Monde ($3.36). Once you have your box in hand, you will need to pull out all of the following equipment just to get started:
Box of Cafe Du Monde Beignet Mix
Temperature Controlled Frying Pan/Frying Skillet works best
Fry Basket (to retrieve the finished Beignets)
Spoon (to stir the water and mix into a dough)
Mixing Bowl
Measuring Cup
Rolling Pin (to roll finished dough into a flat sheet)
Pizza Cutter (to cut dough into squares for frying)
Vegetable Oil/Louanna Cottonseed Oil is recommended
Powdered Sugar (to use as topping for finished Beignets)
Flour (to keep dough from sticking to rolling pin)
Water
You think making Beignets at home is easy? Think twice. If your Beignets do not get puffy and look flat, your frying oil temperature was too low to adequately cook the dough. Try again - this time - using small pieces of dough and let the fryer temperature rise to a full 370 degrees Fahrenheit before you toss your beignets into the sizzling oil.
Better to judge Café du Monde Beignets by trying them on location in NOLA, first. A great Beignet tastes like a never ending warm funnel cake. You can watch them being made on location on this short video: WATCH BEINETS BEING MADE
Perhaps, what is most amazing about Café du Monde is the amount of business they are able to generate with a very limited menu. The Original Cafe Du Monde is a traditional coffee shop. Their menu consists of dark roasted Coffee and Chicory, Beignets, White and Chocolate Milk, and fresh squeezed Orange Juice. The coffee is served Black or Au Lait. Au Lait means that it is mixed half and half with hot milk. And, of course there are the Beignets covered in powdered sugar. In 1988 Iced Coffee was introduced to the cafe. Soft drinks also made their debut that year. That’s it.
As for their operating hours? They are always open. According to their website, Café du Monde “is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It closes only on Christmas Day and on the day an occasional Hurricane passes too close to New Orleans.” Hurricane Katrina couldn’t even blow the confectionary sugar off one of these delicious pastries! Well…there was some minor damage to the building. But, it came back quickly.
A fellow tourist says this about his Café du Monde experience:
“Yeah, it's touristy as hell, but you HAVE to visit at least once!!
You HAVE to get the white powdered sugar all over you (and your friends).
You HAVE to spend the extra change to get the disposable paper hats to take silly pictures in.
You HAVE to go and get cafe au lait and beignets at 2 AM after a night of drinking.
It is a must!!”
We make it a point never to argue against good advice.
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