Recipe

Toya Boudy’s Prize-Winning Beignets with Raspberry Coulis

Bring a bit of classic New Orleans sweetness to your kitchen

By Cora Schipa
Recipe by Toya Boudy

February 6, 2023

Photo: Sam Hanna

When New Orleans chef Toya Boudy agreed to participate in the Hallmark Channel’s Home and Family Show in 2017, she was fresh off being eliminated from a different cooking show and nursing a bruised self-confidence. This beignet recipe proved a pick-me-up, earning Boudy $25,000 in prize money and sparking enduring relationships with the cast and crew.

Her new cookbook, Cooking for the Culture: Recipes and Stories from the Streets of New Orleans to the Table, weaves delicious Southern recipes with autobiographical poetry, pictures, and narratives, so each dish has a story of its own. These delightful pillowy pastries may not win you a stack of cash, but you’ll feel like a champion when you serve up these showstoppers from your own kitchen.

The cookbook is on sale February 7. Find Boudy’s Praline Bacon recipe here.

Ingredients

Beignets with Raspberry Coulis (Yield: 4 to 6 servings)
For the beignets
- 3 cups flour
- ½ tsp. nutmeg
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 1 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1 (0.75-oz.) package yeast
- 1 egg
- Powdered sugar, for sprinkling
- Grapeseed oil, for frying
for the raspberry coulis
- 1 pint raspberries
- 4 tsp. sugar

Preparation

Make the beignets: In a small bowl, mix together the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.

Heat the milk (steaming but not boiling).

Place the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Pour the scalding milk over the top of them. Stir the milk so that the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Add the yeast and stir it in. Add the egg and half of the dry ingredients to the large bowl and beat well. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix well.

Place the dough on a floured counter and knead 2 to 3 minutes, until it is soft and pliable. Place your kneaded dough into a large greased bowl. Cover and let rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Place the dough onto a floured counter and flour a rolling pin. Roll the dough out to about ¼-inch thick. Cut the dough into 3-inch squares. It should be a dozen squares or a few extra. Place the dough pieces on a greased cookie sheet and cover with greased plastic wrap. Allow them to rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until they have almost doubled in size.

In a large skillet with 3½ inches of oil, fry the dough 1 to 2 minutes each side over medium-high heat. Sprinkle generously with powdered sugar.

Make the raspberry coulis: Place the berries and sugar in the blender and blend until it’s completely smooth. Spoon the sauce onto the bottom of the plate before adding the beignets.