A beignet is the fried doughnut traditionally served with powdered sugar in New Orleans cuisine.
The best-known American version is associated with Louisiana’s French-Creole food culture and is made from yeast-leavened dough. The dough is rolled, cut into squares or rectangles, deep-fried, and covered generously with confectioners’ sugar. Unlike a ring doughnut, a traditional New Orleans beignet has no hole.
Café du Monde helped make the New Orleans style internationally famous. Its French Market coffee stand has served beignets with café au lait for generations, making the pairing a major visitor tradition. Beignets are especially associated with New Orleans breakfast and late-night café culture.
The name can cause confusion because French cuisine also includes other fried pastries called beignets. In New Orleans usage, however, the square, powdered-sugar pastry is the characteristic form. Churros, zeppole, and malasadas are related fried-dough foods, but they belong to different culinary traditions.