To cook, fill a tablespoon with the mixture and slip half of it off into the hot fat with a knife. Then slip off the other half, making two beignets from each spoonful. When brown on the underside, they will turn themselves over and sometimes they will turn back again. When they have finished turning and are golden-brown, they are done. This should take about 5 minutes. Serve immediately, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or with a vanilla custard sauce or apricot sauce (see GOURMET, December, 1948). This recipe makes more than 2 dozen beignets.
Beignets de Fruits
To make the batter, sift together ½ cup flour with ¼ teaspoon salt. Beat 1 egg, add 1 tablespoon melted butter, and combine this with the flour and salt. Add ½ cup flat beer and stir only until the mixture is smooth. Put the batter in a warm place to let it become light and foamy. Then fold in 1 stiffly beaten egg white.
To prepare the fruit, drain and dry the surface of large canned fruit such as peaches. Sprinkle apple slices with sugar and lemon juice, let them stand for about 1 hour, and dry them a little. Drain berries or other small fruit thoroughly, or the batter will not cling. Dip the pieces of large fruit in the batter and make sure that each piece is completely covered. Drop into the hot oil or fat (375° F.) and cook until golden-brown all over. Arrange the fritters in a shallow pan, sprinkle with sugar, and put under the broiler flame until the sugar is glazed.
For small fruit, add the fruit to the batter, using about 2 cups well-drained fruit. Drop by spoonfuls into the hot fat (375° F.) and cook until they are golden-brown all over, or for about 5 minutes. Serve hot with powdered sugar or will a vanilla or sabayon sauce or any of the fruit sauces (see GOURMET, December, 1948).
Pinterest
