These beignets with strawberries are fluffy doughnuts sprinkled with powdered sugar and dressed with sliced strawberries and a strawberry Chambord sauce. This is a simple yet elegant dessert that also makes tasty brunch food.
Café Du Monde Style Beignets
Whenever I think of New Orleans, beignets immediately come to mind. It feels like no trip to the city is complete without a visit to Café Du Monde for their famous hot, fluffy square doughnuts dusted with a generous layer of powdered sugar. Typically, an order includes three beignets, which seems just right for a group of three. However, once everyone takes that first heavenly bite, it’s never enough, and before you know it, there’s a chorus of requests for more doughnuts, leading to another round of ordering.
Boxed Mix vs. Homemade
Café Du Monde has a boxed mix that you can order online; however, it is just as easy to make these doughnuts from ingredients in your pantry.
Assembling Beignets with Strawberries
My version of Café Du Monde beignets begins with the same famous doughnuts sprinkled with powdered sugar. However, I stack them with strawberries, Chambord sauce, and whipped cream.
Chambord Sauce on Beignets with Strawberries
What is Chambord? It is a black raspberry liqueur if you aren’t familiar with it. This recipe uses it to make a sauce for this dessert. However, making the Chambord sauce is a step you can skip, but once you taste this strawberry sauce, you will definitely think it is worth making.
Another Option for Chambord Sauce
If you prefer not to make the Chambord sauce, sprinkle a little sugar on the cut-up strawberries and let them sit for 10-20 minutes. The sugar will extract juice from the berries, which you can use as a sauce.
Eat the Beignets with Strawberries While They are Warm
Cut up the strawberries and prepare the Chambord sauce before frying the beignets, as it is best to enjoy this dessert while it is warm. You might try other berries with these beignets, such as blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries. Since Chambord is a fruit-infused liqueur, you can adapt the sauce recipe to use different berries instead of strawberries.
Other Strawberry Recipes You Might Enjoy
Click on each name to link to the recipe.
Beignets with Strawberries
Equipment
- pan for deep frying
- food thermometer that will clip to a pan
Ingredients
Beignets
- ¾ cup warm water (105° to 110°)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup evaporated milk, room temperature (or whole milk)
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten and room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, melted
- canola or peanut oil for frying
- powdered sugar for dusting
Strawberry Chambord Sauce
- 8 ounces fresh strawberries, sliced
- ⅓ cup Chambord liqueur
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon water
- extra strawberries to garnish the beignets
- whipped cream
Instructions
Beignets
- In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast and granulated sugar in the warm water. Let the yeast mixture sit for 15 minutes. It will become foamy.
- Add the milk, egg, and salt. Stir to mix. Then add half of the flour and use a dough hook attachment to mix in the flour.
- Add the shortening and the remaining flour and mix just until the dough is smooth.
- Place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot and let the dough rise for 2 hours. It will double in size.
- After the dough has risen, generously flour a work surface and roll out the dough into a large rectangle about ¼ inch thick. Cut the dough into 3-inch squares.
- Pour 3-4 inches of oil into a Dutch oven or equivalent pan and heat to 340-350°F. Drop 2 or 3 beignets into the hot oil and cook for about 30 seconds. Flip the beignets over and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Continue cooking and rotating the beignets until they are deep golden brown. Remove from the oil and sprinkle heavily with powdered sugar.
- Add sliced strawberries, the strawberry Chambord sauce, and whipped cream. Serve immediately.
Strawberry Chambord Sauce
- While the dough is rising, make the Chambord sauce.
- In a saucepan bring to a boil the strawberries, sugar, and liqueur. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes and break up the strawberries with a fork as the sauce cooks.
- In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the water and then whisk it into the strawberry sauce. Stir until the sauce thickens. Set aside to cool.