The classic beignet, a French recipe, is known widely around the world. And the Haitians also have their own version of this heavenly snack. But, this recipe here that I shared is not exactly the Haitian version, nor is it the French version; it’s more of a hybrid between the two recipes. Personally, I prefer Haitian beignets, but I love the yeast in French beignets; so I decided to combine the two. Since the taste is more on the Haitian side I call them Haitian style beignets.
Ann fè benyen!
Ingredients:
2 overripe bananas
3/4 cup of cane syrup
3/4 cup of milk
4 tablespoon of butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup of Haitian rhum
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of yeast
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
Let’s get started!
First step is to activate your yeast. It is a quick process. Warm up the milk. It’s important that the milk is between 105-110 degrees. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and mix it in the milk. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of yeast on top of the milk. Let it rest for 5 minutes, and you will see it foam up, and the smell of yeast will be strong. If you don’t see it foaming up or you don’t smell the yeast, that means it did not activate.
While the yeast is being activated, melt the butter. You can do it on the stove top, or for a quicker way in the microwave. Mash the bananas in a bowl. Keep in mind that the more ripe the bananas are the better suited they are for baking. So, before you throw away those dark looking bananas, save them for a bake goods, like these good old beignets.
In a big bowl, whisk the eggs and the melted butter together. After that, add the cinnamon powder and cane syrup and whisk them into the egg mixture. Once they are combine well, add the yeast mixture and the mashed bananas to the egg mixture and whisk them well. Add the rhum in the mixture. Keep it out if you don’t want alcohol.
Now that you mixed all the wet ingredients together, add the flour in two parts and whisk in the flour each time. It will be a very loose batter. That is exactly what you want for this recipe. French beignet is more of a dough. But this recipe is not French, it is inspired by Haitian beignets; and our beignets are more of a batter consistency.
Cover the bowl, and let it sit in a warm place for at least 2 hours. The batter will rise considerably. After the two hours has passed, deflate the batter by mixing it with a spoon. Get some oil ready to deep fry the beignets. Fry them on a low/medium heat. Use a small ice cream scoop or just two spoons to scoop the batter into the hot oil. I suggest you make the beignets small instead of big.
Make sure the oil is hot before you start frying the beignets, otherwise only the outside will be cooked and not the inside. I fried my beignets for one minute on each side.
Once they are done frying, roll them in sugar while they are hot. In Haiti, beignets are rolled in granulated white sugar, whereas French beignets are rolled in powdered sugar. I did both in the video to show the viewers, but I prefer the powdered sugar ones.
Thank you for your time
Enjoy your food