Chocolate Chip & Caramel-Filled "Beignets"

Chocolate Chip & Caramel-Filled "Beignets" - made January 5, 2013, challah dough from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

 

Here's a good use of scraps of challah dough if you've made the Artisan Bread recipe and don't use it all for challah.  Roll out the dough, cut out with cookie cutters, put a scoop of nutella or a few chocolate chips and a dollop of caramel in the center, cover with another piece of dough, seal the two pieces completely (no filling should leak through), let rest at room temperature for 20 minutes then fry in hot oil until golden brown.  This is the actual recipe in the Artisan Bread book for beignets.  I've never had a real beignet (but I will shortly and I think they're supposed to be square, not round) so I don't know how it compares to the real thing.  I consider this more like a stuffed donut hole.  It puffed up and had a mind of its own in the hot oil; some even turned themselves and some refused to cooperate when I turned them and just flipped back onto their original side on their own.  Once you conquer the frying, these are best eaten warm so I'd advise only frying what you can eat right away.