Zeppole San Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Day Cream Puffs)
Classic Italian choux pastry nests, fried until golden and filled with silky lemon-scented pastry cream and a cherry on top.
Ingredients
| 1 cup | 240 ml | water |
| 1 cup | 240 ml | all-purpose flour (dough) |
| 1/4 tsp | 1.3 ml | salt |
| 1/2 cup | 120 ml | unsalted butter |
| 4 | eggs, at room temperature | |
| 2 1/2 cups | 600 ml | whole milk |
| 1/4 cup | 60 ml | granulated sugar |
| 1/4 cup | 60 ml | all-purpose flour (pastry cream) |
| 2 tbsp | 30 ml | cornstarch |
| 1 small | strip of lemon zest | |
| 4 | egg yolks | |
| 1 tsp | 5 ml | vanilla extract |
| ā | maraschino or amarena cherries |
Instructions
- Make the pastry cream: In a saucepan, add the milk and lemon zest and bring to a simmer. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale (a couple of minutes), then whisk in the flour and cornstarch. Remove the lemon zest and slowly stream the hot milk into the yolk mixture, whisking until smooth.
- Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until thickened. Stir in the vanilla, pass through a sieve into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cool.
- In a large saucepan, add the water, butter and salt and bring to a boil. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a food processor fitted with a paddle attachment and mix for several minutes to cool it a little. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Let rest at room temperature about 10 minutes.
- Place the dough in a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe little nests about 2 1/2 inches wide and 3 rings high onto small pieces of parchment paper.
- Fried version: Fry a few at a time in very hot vegetable oil (350Ā°F / 175Ā°C). The parchment peels away as they hit the oil, so remove it as soon as possible. Fry for a few minutes until deeply golden brown on both sides, then drain on a paper-towel-lined platter.
- Fill the nests with pastry cream, top with a cherry and sprinkle with a little powdered sugar. (To bake instead: bake at 400Ā°F / 200Ā°C for about 40 minutes until deeply golden, then cool and fill.)