New Orleans’ favorite pastry has been around longer than our city. French and Spanish colonists brought their version of beignets to the Louisiana territory; it was a dish made with a light dough full of yeast. Once here, the pastry has never been the same.
The Creoles added fruit; Café du Monde and New Orleans Coffee & Beignet have added pure powdered sugar; others have added everything in between, from crabmeat and bacon to chocolate and bourbon.
One final fact: beignets weren’t commonly called beignets until 1950; they were known as “French Market Doughnuts” for the best spot to find them.
If you’re in the mood for beignets (how you could you not be?), be sure to stop by Beignet Fest this weekend to try more than 20 different types of the iconic treat.
– Scott Hutcheson, Senior Advisor to the Mayor on the Cultural Economy