Rustling up some Rousserolles

By Colin, on March 1st, 2011

At the weekend I made some Rousserolles a type of deep fried beignet flavoured with liqueur or orange flower water, which are a speciality of the southern Touraine. Rouserolles are traditionally eaten in the Carnival season and on Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday to you Brits).

Pate or dough of Rousserolles is readily available in the local supermarkets, dough being the uncooked form of the beignet.

I thought I would make my own, partly for fun but also to assure the quality of the ingredients. Then it got a little interesting, a web search quickly showed that there where no English language recipes for this dish and not that many French ones, so for English speakers this is probably a first, aren’t you lucky!

To make Rouserolles you need;

200 g of flour
50 g of cornstarch
75 g butter
3 eggs
4 sp. brandy, rum ….’s or orange flower water,
15 g of vanilla caster sugar or 15 g of plain caster sugar and a dash of vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
2 sachets of yeast
Finely chopped peel of a lemon

Rousserolles dough nicely risen

Simply mix together all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then stir in the eggs one at a time until a smooth paste has formed, the mixture will be soft, add a bit more flour if it is too sticky.

Leave the mix until it has doubled in volume, about an hour. Roll the dough 2 or 3 mm thick, on a well floured board and then cut in to shapes with a pastry cutter, traditionally the dough is cut in to a variety of fancy shapes, hearts, moons, stars etc.

Finished Rouserolles

Cook a few at a time in a deep fat fryer turning the beignets so that they are evenly browned, keep an eye on them they cook quick, puffing up like little pillows.

Leave to rest on kitchen paper, then dust with icing sugar.

I made mine with orange flower water, be warned they are they are very moreish, I can not believe they are not so widely know, if you make them once you’ll make them again.