Today’s sweet recipe: baked Zeppole di San Giuseppe. The Father’s Day sweet.

These are doughnuts made of choux pastry, the same used for cream puffs, which are usually fried and then filled with classic pastry cream. The ones I propose today are baked and filled with lemon pastry cream. Baking makes them lighter but equally delicious.

Making them will give you great satisfaction and gifting them to your dad will make you look good. They will seem like the ones you buy at the pastry shop.

Seeing them, one might think they are difficult to prepare, but in reality, it just requires a little skill with the piping bag and some small tips to follow in shaping to get soft and airy baked zeppole that can also be filled internally to make them even more indulgent.

The candied cherry placed on top of the cream tuft perfectly completes this dessert, which is usually prepared on March 19th, precisely for Father’s Day.

With the leftover egg whites from the cream preparation, you can make a delicious egg white ring cake or a soft orange angel cake.

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

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Ingredients for 6 Zeppole

3 1/2 tbsp milk
3 1/2 tbsp water
3 1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 pinch fine salt
2 medium eggs (about 2 medium)
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp potato starch
3 egg yolks
2 lemons (small (zest))
6 candied cherries
as needed powdered sugar

Tools

1 Scale
1 Saucepan
1 Whisk
1 Piping bag
1 Measuring cup
1 Bowl
1 Wooden spoon
1 Baking sheet

Let’s Make Baked Zeppole di San Giuseppe Together

In a saucepan, combine water with milk (you can also use just water), a pinch of salt, and butter. When it starts to bubble, lower the heat.
Pour all the sifted flour in at once and stir until it has absorbed all the liquid and has thickened. Continue stirring vigorously until a white film appears at the bottom of the saucepan, then turn off the heat.
Place the dough in a bowl and spread it out with a wooden spoon to cool. Once cooled, start adding the eggs one at a time. Mix vigorously until fully absorbed, then add the next egg and mix again. This step can also be done with a stand mixer using the paddle attachment.
Draw 6 circles of about 2-3/4 inches on a sheet of parchment paper using a pencil, turn the sheet over so that the drawing does not touch the dough, then take a baking sheet, lightly wet it, and cover it with your parchment paper. This way, it will adhere well and won’t lift when forming the zeppole.
Put the zeppole dough in a piping bag with a star nozzle of at least 3/8 inch. Form small rings following the drawn circles, making a first round of dough pushing the piping bag hard, then a second round softer and more inward to leave a hole.
Bake the Zeppole di San Giuseppe in a preheated oven at 392°F for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 374°F and continue baking for 10 minutes without ever opening the oven. Once ready, turn off the oven, open the door slightly, and leave for another 5 minutes before removing them to cool completely.
In a saucepan, put the milk with lemon peels, being careful not to take the white part. Place the saucepan on low heat and let it warm.
Meanwhile, place the yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until you obtain a smooth cream. Then add the sifted flour and starch, continuing to mix well to combine the ingredients. Now pour the warm milk over the mixture and stir vigorously.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan through a sieve. Turn on low heat and cook, stirring continuously until it thickens. It will take about 10 minutes. Once ready, pour it into a bowl, remove the lemon peels, and cover with cling film. Let it cool before placing it in the fridge to use later.
Take the lemon pastry cream and mix it vigorously to make it creamy again after resting in the fridge. Then put it in a piping bag with a narrow, long nozzle. Take a zeppola, turn it upside down, and make a hole in the bottom with the nozzle, press the piping bag to fill the zeppola. Repeat in multiple spots to fill well.
Change the piping bag nozzle, removing the narrow and long one, and put a star-shaped one. Form a tuft over the hole of the zeppole to cover it. Place a drained candied cherry on each zeppola and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
The baked Zeppole di San Giuseppe are ready to be enjoyed, but first, take a photo and post it on social media, tagging me (una riccia che pasticcia on Instagram and Facebook) and let me know your dad’s name. Mine is Nicolò!