"March 19th… It's St. Joseph's Day in Rhode Island and that can only mean one thing — it's time to celebrate with zeppole. These cream puff-like pastries come in many sizes and with a variety of fillings from the traditional boiled cream to tiramisu. Everyone has their favorite. I am sharing mine with you!"
Zeppole Di San Giuseppe
Servings: 10
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 40 Minutes to 1 Hour
Ingredients:
Choux Pastry
2 cups water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 stick butter unsalted
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons sugar
8 eggs
3 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Custard Filling
2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 egg
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 lemon peel optional, but recommended
Garnish
maraschino cherries sliced in half for topping
powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions:
Preheat oven at 400 degrees.
Custard
In a heavy saucepan, stir together the milk and 1/4 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and egg. Stir together the remaining sugar and cornstarch; then stir them into the egg until smooth. When the milk comes to a boil, drizzle it into the bowl in a thin stream while mixing so that you do not cook the eggs. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly so the eggs don’t curdle or scorch on the bottom. Add Lemon Peel if desired.
When the mixture comes to a boil and thickens, remove from the heat and remove lemon peel. Stir in the butter and vanilla, mixing until the butter is completely blended in. Pour into a heat-proof container and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled before using.
Pastry
Place the water, salt, sugar and butter in a 2-quart saucepan and bring to a boil.
Remove the pan from the heat and dump the flour in all at once, whisking it all in.
Return to the burner start stirring with a wooden spoon.
Cook, stirring constantly, until the dough starts to pull easily from the sides of the pan and forms a ball, about 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir until tepid, 6 to 8 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring in each one completely before adding the next.
Stir in the vanilla. Cool completely.
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place the dough into a pastry bag with a 1-inch star tip and pipe 2-inch rings onto the trays, as many as can fit.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then at 375 F for 15-20 minutes until evenly browned. Remove and let cool.
When cool, carefully slice rings in half and fill with custard and place cap of pastry on top.
Top each zeppole with custard (using a piping bag and star tip, optional decoration) and top with cherry. Sprinkle Powdered sugar on top.
"Fried Option: You can also fry this dough in oil after you pipe them until golden brown and then just fill the middle of the rings with custard and top with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry."
CWT is not a certified dietician or nutritionist. Any nutritional information shared on this site is an estimate counted through measurements and package nutritional information used in each recipe. If calorie, macro counting and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend running the ingredients through your choice of nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary depending on national brands used per recipe.