Quick, Fluffy Raspberry & Chocolate Beignets Recipe
If you’re craving the pillowy texture of a New Orleans pastry but do not want to spend hours waiting on a yeast dough to rise, you need to make these quick raspberry and chocolate beignets. We’re skipping the traditional, time-consuming pastry steps by using a simple can of refrigerated crescent roll sheets to create a light, airy fried dough, then filling it with your choice of a rich chocolate filling or a bright raspberry cream cheese blend. These babies fry up to a beautiful golden brown in just 25 minutes!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Ready In: 25 minutes
- Serves: 8 Beignets
- Main Ingredients: Crescent roll dough sheet, Vegetable oil, Powdered sugar, Semi-sweet chocolate chips, Heavy cream, Vanilla extract, Salt, Raspberry preserves, Cream cheese, softened, Lemon juice
- Why You'll Love It: This recipe gives you all the warm, pillowy magic of a French Quarter bakery without any of the traditional kitchen hassle. By using a clever crescent dough shortcut, you skip the stand mixer and the hours spent waiting for dough to rise, meaning you can satisfy a serious pastry craving in under half an hour. Splitting the batch between rich, glossy chocolate and a tangy raspberry cream cheese filling means there is a flavor for everyone at the table.
New Orleans Style Flavor Without the Wait
Anyone who has ever taken an early morning stroll through the French Market in New Orleans knows that a beloved beignet from Café du Monde is a necessary stop. Traditional French beignets rely on a yeast mixture, a large mixing bowl, a dough hook attachment, and hours of patience while the dough proofs in a warm place. Now, that’s all fine and dandy for a slow weekend or a special occasion like Mardi Gras, but sometimes you just want that sweet sugar coating and a hot pastry fast.
This recipe turns standard crescent dough into an incredibly fluffy beignet that puffs up perfectly the second it hits the hot oil! To give them a bit of extra flair, we are splitting the batch down the middle with two incredible fillings: a velvety chocolate ganache made from real chocolate chips and a tangy raspberry cream cheese mixture. It gives you that classic chocolate version flavor profile without the hassle of making a traditional buttermilk beignet recipe from scratch.
Cinnamony Stuffed French Toast Sticks is another recipe that’s similar to this one and just as tasty!
Ingredients You’ll Need For This Beignet Recipe
- Crescent roll dough sheet
- Vegetable oil
- Powdered sugar
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Heavy cream
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Raspberry preserves
- Cream cheese, softened
- Lemon juice
Expert Tips from My Kitchen
- Watch Your Oil Temperature: The trick to getting a light, non-greasy pastry is maintaining the right temperature. Use a candy thermometer to keep your oil right at 350°F. If the oil is too cool, the dough will absorb it and turn greasy; if it is too hot, the outside will burn before the interior dough cooks through.
- Keep the Fillings Thick: When you mix your hot cream and chocolate chips, let the ganache sit at room temperature for a few minutes to thicken up before spooning it onto the dough. If the filling is too runny, it will leak out into the pan and cause the oil to splatter.
- Use a Pizza Cutter: When slicing the dough sheet on a lightly floured surface, I like to skip the sharp knife and use a rolling pizza cutter. It glides right through the delicate crescent dough without pulling or stretching the squares out of shape.
- Don’t Overcrowd the Pan: I always fry beignets in small batches of two or three at a time in your deep skillet or Dutch oven. Dropping too many pieces of dough into the oil at once will cause the oil temperature to plummet, ruining that signature puff.
“These looked so good.”
“All your recipes I’ve tried have been so good and easy to make.” – Harriet
How to Make Raspberry & Chocolate Beignets
1. Prep the Dough
Unroll your crescent dough sheet onto a lightly floured surface. If you are using standard crescent rolls instead of a seamless sheet, gently press the seams together with your fingers. Cut the dough into 8 even squares.
2. Whip Up the Fillings
For the chocolate side, heat your heavy cream in a small bowl until steaming, pour it over your chocolate chips, and let it sit for a minute before stirring into a smooth chocolate ganache. Mix in the vanilla and a pinch of salt. In a separate large bowl, stir together the raspberry preserves, softened cream cheese, and lemon juice until smooth.
3. Fill and Seal
Place a small spoonful of the chocolate filling in the center of four dough squares. Put a spoonful of the raspberry mixture in the center of the remaining four squares. Fold each square over into a rectangle or triangle, pressing the edges down firmly to seal the fillings inside completely.
4. Fry Until Golden
Carefully lower the filled dough into your preheated hot oil. Fry for about 1-2 minutes per side, turning them over once you see each side of each beignet turn a beautiful golden brown.
5. Drain and Dust
Use a slotted spoon to remove the hot pastries from the skillet and let them drain beignets on a plate lined with paper towels. While they are still piping hot, dust them generously with a heavy coating of confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately! If you really want to get creative, add some buttermilk syrup!
Raspberry & Chocolate Beignets FAQs
While they’re both cut from the same cloth (literally, they’re both fried dough), the big difference comes down to texture and ingredients. Baked goods like Pumpkin-spiced donuts usually rely on a lot of eggs and butter to make them dense, cakey, or perfectly round. Traditional beignets use more yeast and evaporated milk, which makes them puff up like a hollow, pillowy cloud when they hit the oil.
There is an art to eating a hot beignet without ruining your favorite shirt! The absolute golden rule is do not inhale right before you take a bite, or you’ll end up breathing in a cloud of powdered sugar and coughing it all over the table. Just hold it gently, take a steady bite, and expect to get a little messy. In New Orleans, a plate of three hot beignets is traditionally paired with a warm cup of café au lait (coffee with chicory and hot milk).
In a traditional French Quarter bakery, no, they are usually served plain, hollow, and absolutely buried under a mountain of powdered sugar. However, adding fillings like our chocolate ganache or raspberry cream cheese has become incredibly popular for anyone wanting to add a little more sweetness.
You can bake them if you’re trying to avoid a pot of hot oil, but just keep your expectations in check! Baking them at 400°F for about 10 to 12 minutes will give you a tasty, puffed pastry, but they will taste a lot more like a dinner roll or a standard crescent roll than a true New Orleans pastry.
Similar Recipes
If you love desserts that use plenty of rich chocolate, you should try my 5-minute S’mores brownies, or check out my homemade toaster strudels for another warm and crispy dessert/breakfast staple.
If you tried these quick chocolate and raspberry beignets at home, please leave a star rating on the recipe card and let me know how they turned out for y’all in the comments below!
Ingredients
- 1 8 oz can crescent roll dough sheet
- 1 cup vegetable oil for frying
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Chocolate Filling:
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
- Raspberry Filling:
- 1/3 cup raspberry preserves
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese softened
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a deep skillet or saucepan over medium heat until it reaches about 350°F.
- Unroll the crescent dough sheet onto a lightly floured surface and gently press seams if needed. Cut into 8 even squares.
- Make the chocolate filling by heating the heavy cream until just steaming, then pouring it over the chocolate chips. Let sit for a minute, then stir until smooth and glossy. Stir in vanilla and a pinch of salt, then allow it to cool and thicken slightly so it’s easier to spoon.
- Make the raspberry filling by stirring together the raspberry preserves, softened cream cheese, and lemon juice until smooth and creamy.
- Place a small spoonful of chocolate filling in the center of half of the squares. On the remaining squares, add a spoonful of raspberry filling.
- Fold each square over to form a rectangle or triangle, pressing the edges firmly to seal.
- Carefully place the filled dough into the hot oil, frying in batches so they don’t overcrowd the pan.
- Cook for about 1–2 minutes per side, until golden brown and puffed.
- Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
- Dust generously with powdered sugar while still warm and serve immediately.