St. Joseph’s Zeppole, a dessert prepared on this festive occasion. Zeppole are originally from Campania but are made all over Italy. The base is a dough made only with water, butter, and flour, the classic choux pastry also used to make cream puffs. To decorate, you’ll need Pastry Cream, sour cherries, and a dusting of powdered sugar. The zeppole can be either fried or baked; I prefer them fried, definitely greasier but more flavorful. A very simple recipe with few ingredients. All that’s left is to try it!!
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 17
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of clarified butter
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 4 Medium eggs (approx. 200g)
- 1 tsp sugar
- pastry cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- sour cherries
- powdered sugar
Tools
- Stand Mixer
- Piping Bag
- Parchment Paper
Choux Pastry Method
In a saucepan, put butter, water, milk, salt, and sugar. Once it starts boiling, add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon quite quickly, increase the heat for a few minutes until it thickens.
A compact ball will form. When you see a white film on the bottom of the saucepan, you can turn off the heat.
Let it cool. If you want to speed up this step, put the dough in the stand mixer bowl and run it for a few minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the eggs. If you want, you can beat them a bit to better calibrate them for adding to the dough, otherwise add them one at a time.
When the dough has cooled, add the eggs, making sure to absorb the first portion well before adding more.
You should get a soft dough, but not too soft. Lift some dough with a spatula, let it fall, and if it forms a triangle (as shown in the photo), it means it’s ready, even if you haven’t added all the eggs.
When you have finished adding the eggs, put the dough in a piping bag.
Using parchment paper, form squares of about 4 inches where you will shape the zeppola. Decide the size yourself, mine is about 2.5 inches in diameter.
In a pan, put some oil and heat it to 356°F. Insert the zeppole with the parchment paper, a few pieces at a time. Let the zeppole brown on one side for a few minutes, the paper will detach on its own, remove it and turn it over.
Place the zeppole on a plate with absorbent paper to remove excess oil.
The St. Joseph’s Zeppole are ready to be filled.
Fantastic!!
Advice
The zeppole should be consumed immediately, but you can store them for 2 days in the fridge covered with plastic wrap.
The zeppole should be consumed immediately, but you can store them for 2 days in the fridge covered with plastic wrap.
The zeppole should be consumed immediately, but you can store them for 2 days in the fridge covered with plastic wrap.
The zeppole should be consumed immediately, but you can store them for 2 days in the fridge covered with plastic wrap.
