Finely chop the chocolate and place it in a shallow, heatproof bowl. Add in the salt and confectioners’ sugar and set aside.
In a small saucepan heat the heavy cream and espresso powder (if using) until the cream just comes just short of a rolling boil. Remove from heat and pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate mixture. Let sit for 2 minutes, then stir smooth with a spatula or spoon. Stir in the vanilla.
Refrigerate until cold and stiff enough to pipe, about 2 hours, or up to 24 hours. If the filling gets too hard, simply microwave for a few seconds, and then stir smooth.
Scrape the chocolate filling into a piping bag fitted with a piping tip of your choice (design doesn’t really matter here). Poke a small hole onto the side of each beignet, insert the piping tip into the hole, and squeeze the filling into the center. Repeat with all beignets.
For the Chocolate Sugar:
In a large bowl sift together the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder. Repeat a few times, until smooth and well combined. Dust on top of beignets and serve at once! Beignets are best eaten within a few hours of being made.
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