Crawfish Etouffee Inside a Beignet – A Shreveport Invention?

We love Louisiana food and I like to try new things. But I have a tendency to get a little crazy in the kitchen every now and then. But sometime, I stumble upon a dish that is really quite genius. I'm not sure why I even thought about doing this, but I decided to try to make a unique beignet. I wanted to put crawfish etouffee inside a beignet. Could it be done? How would I get this done?

So, that began my experimentation. I already came up with a name. These are now called etoubeignets. You might hear some folks say these already exist at a couple of local restaurants. But the ones you find are usually crawfish meat pies. They are not made with the sweeter beignet dough.

My plan was to make a great crawfish etouffee without rice and somehow cook that inside the dough. I decided to freeze the etouffee in ice trays. This made small rectangular shaped chunks of etouffee.  I rolled these frozen pieces inside the dough and fry it.

Once these tasty treats are cooked, I place them on a paper towel on a rack and then sprinkle powdered sugar on them.

The reviews have been pretty good. My son was the first guinea pig and he liked them, but said he would probably not order them at a restaurant. He did not like the powdered sugar. But the other folks who tried them really did think I might have hit a home run.

Even Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin told me "I think you are on to something here."