Today’s sweet recipe: baked St. Joseph’s zeppole. The Father’s Day dessert.

These are ring-shaped pastries made from choux pastry—the same dough used for cream puffs—which are usually fried and then filled with classic pastry cream. The ones I’m offering today are baked and filled with lemon pastry cream. Baking makes them lighter but equally delicious.

Making them will give you great satisfaction and, if you gift them to your dad, you’ll really impress. They’ll taste like those bought at the pastry shop.

At first glance they may seem difficult to prepare, but in reality you only need a little skill with a piping bag and a few simple tips to shape them so you get soft, airy baked zeppole that can even be filled internally to make them even more indulgent.

A spoonful of syrup-preserved amarena cherry placed on top of the cream completes this dessert, traditionally prepared on March 19th for Father’s Day (St. Joseph’s Day).

With the egg whites left over from making the cream you can prepare a delicious egg-white bundt cake or a soft orange angel cake.

Now let’s see, step by step, how to make this recipe.

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Ingredients for 6 zeppole

50 g milk
50 g water
50 g butter
75 g all-purpose flour
1 pizzico fine salt
105 g eggs (about 2 medium)
250 ml milk
75 g sugar
18 g all-purpose flour
17 g potato starch
3 egg yolks
2 lemons (small (zest))
6 amarena cherries in syrup
q.b. powdered sugar

Tools

1 Scale
1 Small saucepan
1 Hand whisk
1 Piping bag
1 Measuring jug
1 Bowl
1 Wooden spoon
1 Baking sheet

Let’s make baked St. Joseph’s zeppole together

Put the water and milk in a small saucepan (you can use only water if you prefer), add a pinch of salt and the butter. When it starts to bubble, turn the heat to the lowest setting.
Add all the sifted flour at once and stir until it has absorbed all the liquid and becomes thick. Continue stirring vigorously until you see a thin white film forming on the bottom of the pan, then remove from the heat.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and spread it with a wooden spoon to cool. When it has cooled well, start adding the eggs one at a time, mixing vigorously until each is fully incorporated before adding the next. You can also do this step in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment.
With a pencil, draw 6 circles about 2 3/4 inches (7 cm) in diameter on a sheet of parchment paper. Turn the sheet over so the drawing is not in contact with the dough. Lightly wet a baking sheet and lay the parchment on it so that it adheres well and won’t lift when you pipe the zeppole.
Put the zeppole dough into a piping bag fitted with a star tip at least 1 cm (about 3/8 in) wide. Pipe rings following the circles you drew: make a first tight ring along the circumference, pressing hard on the piping bag, then make a second, slightly smaller ring on top, pressing less, leaving a hole in the center.
Bake the St. Joseph’s zeppole in a preheated oven at 392°F (200°C) for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 374°F (190°C) and continue baking for 10 minutes without opening the oven. When they are done, turn the oven off, open the door and leave them inside for another 5 minutes, then remove and let cool completely.
In a small saucepan put the milk with the lemon zest, taking care not to include the white pith. Put the pan on low heat and let the milk warm gently to infuse with the lemon flavor.
Meanwhile, put the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until you obtain a smooth cream. Add the sifted flour and potato starch and continue mixing to combine. Now pour the warm milk into the mixture and whisk vigorously.
Pass the mixture through a sieve back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring continuously until it thickens—this will take about 10 minutes. When ready, transfer to a bowl, remove the lemon zest, and cover the surface with plastic wrap so it touches the cream. Let it cool before refrigerating and using.
Take the lemon pastry cream and whisk it vigorously to bring it back to a creamy consistency after chilling. Transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a narrow long tip. Turn a zeppola upside down and make a small hole in the base with the tip, then squeeze the piping bag to fill the zeppola. Repeat in several spots to fill well.
Change the piping tip to a star tip: remove the narrow tip and fit a star one. Pipe a rosette on top of the hole to cover it, place a drained amarena cherry on each zeppola and dust with powdered sugar.
The baked St. Joseph’s zeppole are ready to enjoy—first take a photo and post it on social media tagging me (una riccia che pasticcia Instagram and Facebook) and tell me your dad’s name—mine is Nicolò!