Tiana's New Orleans Beignets

I LUV beignets! They are soo yummylicious :) I have been wanting to go to New Orleans for quite some time now and was inspired by The Princess and the Frog to make these little french desserts. I love the movie and I love the scenery and colors and everyone is always so happy in New Orleans. I just love the whole ambiance they have going on over there, and the food... boy does it look good. Especially beignets. I love beignets. I don't know what it is about them, but they are AWESOME. These beignets are not hard to make at all. They don't include yeast in them so there really is no wait time required (except for when you have to wait for them to cool down once they are out of the hot frying oil to eat them up) The confectioners sugar makes them soo good you just can't resist. Once they come out of the oil, I usually just put them in a paper bag filled with confectioners sugar and shake them like a crazy woman until they're all nice and powdery white.. Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize I was all out of paper bags and used a big mixing bowl with powdered sugar in it and gave them a little shake (they still come out delicious no matter what powdering method you use). They have a soft bread like texture inside and taste somewhat of a doughnut.
 I really enjoyed them especially with a cup of coffee, and I really hope you enjoy them too.

Tiana's New Orleans Beignets

Ingredients:

- 31/4 cups of flour
- 1/3 cup of sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup of buttermilk
- 1/3 cup of water
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- vegetable oil for frying
- Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine 2 3/4 cups of flour with the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Whisk everything together
2. In the bowl of a mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, water, egg, and vanilla extract. Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix, and using your dough hook attachment, turn on to medium speed.
3. Use some of the remaining flour to dust your work surface. Place the dough on it and pat it into a large 1/2 inch thick square. Dust the top with more flour if it gets sticky.
4. Next, slice the dough into 2 1/2 inch squares.
5. Now its time to fry the beignets, heat 2 inches of vegetable oil in a heavy saucepan on the stovetop until the temperature reaches 325 on a deep-fat thermometer. Check the temperature every so often while cooking as the heat from the oil can go up. If it gets too hot, simply turn down the heat a little.
6. Carefully drop 3 dough squares at a time into the hot oil. Fry them for 3 minutes, turn them over, and fry for another 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the beignets to a wire rack set atop paper towels to drain.
7. Dust the beignets with confectioners sugar or simply put them in a paper bag filled with confectioners sugar and shake away.