These Italian zeppole are a deal with served yearly in honor of San Giuseppe: Saint Joseph. Because the patron saint of fathers, La Festa di San Giuseppe falls on Father’s Day. Whereas these zeppole are once-a-year treats in Italy, you’ll be able to take pleasure in them any time you want by making them at dwelling!
A Zeppola di San Giuseppe is made with a lightweight, ethereal choux pastry topped with a thick custard and Amarena cherries. The flavour stability between the dairy-based custard and bitter cherries is what makes this a mouth-watering and widespread deal with in Italy.
Whereas Zeppole di San Giuseppe are historically fried, the pastry can be baked with success. We advocate the previous for essentially the most scrumptious expertise, but when frying at dwelling makes you nervous we’ve included directions (and barely modified ingredient quantities) beneath.
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ZEPPOLE DI SAN GIUSEPPE RECIPE
Makes: 6 to eight medium zeppole
Cook dinner Time: 4 to five hours, finest accomplished over the course of two days
To make the custard, you’ll need:
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1 cup (250 ml) entire milk
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1 lemon zest, peeled
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½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) vanilla extract
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4 egg yolks
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⅓ cup (65 g) sugar
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5 tablespoons (40 g) corn starch
To make the pastry, you’ll need:
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1 cup (240 ml) water
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4 tablespoons (60 g) unsalted butter (or 6 tablespoons, 90 g, if baking as an alternative of frying, see above)
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A pinch of salt
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1 ¼ cups (150 g) all-purpose flour
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3 massive eggs + 1 egg yolk (or 4 massive eggs if baking as an alternative of frying, see above)
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Powdered sugar for topping
Begin by making the custard. In a small saucepan, warmth the milk, peeled lemon zest and vanilla extract over medium warmth. In the meantime, in a separate saucepan, whisk the eggs, sugar and corn starch collectively till well-incorporated.
Proper earlier than the milk begins to boil, pour it into the egg combination via a high-quality mesh sieve. Whisk all collectively, then prepare dinner over low warmth whereas stirring consistently for about 10 minutes or till the custard turns into very thick. The custard will ultimately have to be piped—form of like frosting—so it must be thick sufficient to perform this (though it is going to thicken barely when cooled).
Cowl the custard with plastic wrap involved with the floor and let it cool to room temperature. Refrigerate till fully chilled—at the least 3 hours however ideally in a single day.
To make the pastry, warmth the water and butter in a non-stick saucepan over medium/low warmth. As quickly because the butter has melted, stir in a pinch of salt. Add the flour and stir with a wood spoon. A thick roux will shortly kind. Preserve stirring the dough till it turns into very clean and uniform, and a few residue begins sticking to the underside of the pot. Switch the dough into a big mixing bowl and let it cool for a couple of minutes.
Add one egg to the dough and stir it in till well-incorporated. Repeat with the remaining eggs (and egg yolk, if you happen to plan on frying), mixing them in one after the other.
If baking, preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C) and canopy a big baking sheet with parchment paper.
If frying, fill a deep frying pan with about 2 inches (5 cm) of peanut oil, or a dessert-friendly frying oil of your alternative, and warmth it to 330°F (165°C). Whereas we usually preach a no-stress, no thermometer technique of frying at dwelling, zeppole require a bit extra care to take care of a low-temperature oil so we advocate monitoring it with an instant-read thermometer. For frying, put together a big sheet of parchment paper for forming the zeppole.
Put together a piping bag with a tip that has roughly a ¾ inch (1.9 cm) discharge, ideally with a ridged sample though this isn’t strictly obligatory. Load the piping bag with the pastry dough. Pipe a circle of dough onto parchment paper, roughly 3 ½ inches (8.9 cm) in diameter. Pipe a second circle simply within the primary to kind a thick, doughnut form with a small gap within the middle. Repeat to kind extra zeppole on the parchment paper, protecting them a few inches aside, till all the dough is used up.
If baking, bake the zeppole for 25 minutes. Then, prop the door of the oven open with the deal with of a wood spoon and bake for an extra 5 minutes or till golden. Let cool to room temperature earlier than adorning.
If frying, minimize the parchment paper so that every zeppola rests by itself small sq. of paper. Fastidiously raise up a zeppola and place it within the sizzling oil, turning it the other way up in order that the paper is on high. Inside moments, the paper will separate from the dough and you may choose it out with tongs and discard it.
Fry the zeppola, turning it steadily with a slotted spoon, till golden—about 10 minutes. Take away with a slotted spoon and put aside on a paper towel to dry. Repeat to fry the remainder of the zeppole. Let the pastries cool to room temperature earlier than adorning.
It’s finest to brighten as quickly as attainable to serving time to maintain the pastry from changing into soggy. Load a piping bag with the chilled custard. Working in a spiral sample, pipe custard excessive of every zeppola and fill within the middle gap. Prime the completed pastries with three Amarena cherries, mud them with powered sugar, and serve.
