Zeppole di San Giuseppe
By
Annamaria Settanni McDonald
@ArtByASM
1
These are so good and the second version of the Zeppole. Except this is more of a cream puff. Italians traditionally eat this on Saint Joseph's day, March 19th. We have 2 versions, the fried dough zeppole and these. Another name for them by Sicilians are Sfinge or some say Sfingi. Either way you call them, they are both delicious. I have put a link to my Italian custard in the comments section to use for this recipe. I top this with additional custard and either cherry pie filling or a maraschino cherry or alcohol soaked black cherries. This is a very impressive dessert to impress guests with. The first one I ever had was when I was little in Toronto, Canada while visiting family.
Ingredients
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PASTRY DOUGH
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2 cwater
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1 tspkosher salt
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2 stickbutter, unsalted
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2 cflour
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2 tspsugar
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8eggs
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3 Tbsppure vanilla extract
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FILLING
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·custard (see below)
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GARNISH
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·custard filling recipe (see link in comments)
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·cherry pie filling, marachino cherries or preserved wild cherries
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·powdered sugar
How to Make Zeppole di San Giuseppe
- Preheat oven at 400 F.
- Place the water, salt, sugar and butter in a 2-quart saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Remove the pan from the heat and dump the flour in all at once, whisking it all in.
- Return to the burner start stirring with a wooden spoon.
- Cook, stirring constantly, until the dough starts to pull easily from the sides of the pan and forms a ball, about 3 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir until tepid, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring in each one completely before adding the next.
- Stir in the vanilla. Cool completely.
- Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place the dough into a pastry bag with a 1-inch star tip and pipe 2-inch rings onto the trays, as many as can fit.
- Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes, then at 375 F for 15-20 minutes until evenly browned. Remove and let cool.
- When cool, carefully slice rings in half and scoop out eggy wet dough. Fill with custard and place cap of pastry on top.
- Top each zeppole with custard in middle and top with cherry. Sprinkle Powdered sugar on top.
- NOTE: You can also fry this dough in oil after you pipe them until golden brown and then just fill the middle of the rings with custard and top with a cherry filling, preserved wild cherries or a maraschino cherry.
