Baked or fried zeppole with ricotta cream, chocolate, and jam, ideal for St. Joseph’s Day or Father’s Day, made with choux pastry or cream puff dough and filled with delicious sweet ricotta cream, chocolate shavings, and cherry or raspberry jam, or any flavor you like.
This year, I decided to change it up and made the San Giuseppe zeppole with a different twist. Instead of the usual custard cream (a classic for zeppole), I dared to fill them with a sweetened ricotta cream like the one used for Sicilian cannoli. I decorated each zeppola with chocolate shavings and raspberry jam because I had an open jar in the fridge, but ideally, they should be garnished with cherry jam to recall the original zeppole recipe that features the classic cherry on top.
The recipe you see in the photo is the baked zeppola that I filled both inside and on top to make it very indulgent. You can also make them fried or cooked in an air fryer and garnish only on the surface to make them lighter—it’s up to you.
I recommend trying them with chocolate custard, custard with ricotta, almond milk custard, or a delicious mascarpone and pistachio cream. Happy Father’s Day to everyone!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: About 12 zeppole
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
Servings for about 12 zeppole.
- 1 portion of choux pastry
- 2 cups ricotta (dry)
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate (shavings)
- 1/3 cup jam (cherry, raspberry, or desired flavor)
Tools for zeppole with ricotta cream
- 1 Pastry bag
- 1 Kitchen syringe
Ricotta Cream Zeppole Recipe
Zeppole are very easy to make, follow my recipe through the various steps.
To make the zeppole filled with ricotta cream, first prepare the choux pastry by following my recipe in detail.
Once the choux pastry is prepared, choose the cooking method: you can make oven-baked zeppole, fried zeppole, or even cook the zeppole in an air fryer.
The recipe I’ve chosen for you today was prepared with oven-baked zeppole.
While your San Giuseppe zeppole are cooling, prepare the ricotta cream, it will take only 5 minutes.
Place the well-drained ricotta in a container (I recommend sieving it in a colander or draining it by squeezing it in a cloth if there’s any liquid), add the powdered sugar, and mix the two ingredients with a spoon.
Place the ricotta cream in a pastry bag with a star nozzle, cut the zeppole into two horizontal parts and fill the zeppole with a couple of swirls of cream, then close with the top part.
Finish filling with more cream in the hollow of the top part, sprinkle dark chocolate shavings, and finish with some jam decoration (I used a simple kitchen syringe).Your zeppole with ricotta cream, chocolate, and jam are ready to be enjoyed. Happy St. Joseph’s Day!
STORAGE AND TIPS
Storage: The zeppole with ricotta cream can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days if they are already filled. The baked zeppole that are still to be filled can be stored in a food bag for about a week.
Tips: Try different creams to fill your zeppole, find here those you prefer.
– You can use jam of any flavor you like.
– You can use not only chocolate shavings but also chips or sprinkles.
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