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Pastries
zeppole di San Giuseppe
Zeppole di San Giuseppe (Cream Puffs with Lemon and Orange Flavored Ricotta)
Originated from: Molise, Italy
Occasion: The Feast Day of Saint Joseph
Contributed by: Mary Melfi

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Ingredients

Zeppole [sometimes spelled Zepolle]

Cream Puff Pastry (makes about 12)*

1 cup sifted flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup water
1/3 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder (optional)
4 large eggs

For ricotta filling (Fills about 12)

1 container of ricotta (about 450 g)
1/2 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of 1/2 of a small orange mixed with 1 tablespoon of sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon) mixed with 1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing sugar for dusting

*For similar cream puff recipes from first generation Italian Canadians who grew up in Molise in the 1930s check out Zia Rosina's recipes as well as those from Olga and Rita Palazzo.

** For the standard and/or professional method of making cream puffs see the recipe, "Standard Cream Puff Pastry Dough"



Directions

To make cream puff pastry dough:



Add salt and sugar to the flour and sift.

Heat water and add butter. Cook until the butter and water mixture boils.

Remove from heat.

Add flour all at once to the butter and water mixture until a ball forms and leaves the side of the pan.

Allow to cool for three to four minutes.

Place the flour and butter mixture in an electric mixer bowl.

Add one egg at a time to the mixture, beating continuously, until the mixture is nice and smooth.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 375 degree F.

Line two aluminum cookie sheets with silicon baking mats.

Drop 3 to 4 tablespoons of the batter onto the cookie sheet for each cream puff, swirling it on top (Shaping the cream puff as one would like it to appear, i.e, larger on the bottom and smaller on the top).*

Place the cream puff pastries 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

When all the cream puffs have been made, bake them for about 40 minutes or until they are a light golden color.

Remove from the oven and cut a very small slit on the side to get the air out and then return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or so.

When the cream puffs are a golden brown and look more or less ready turn off the oven and keep them there to dry for another 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool.



*Alternatively, one can use a muffin pan, lining each muffin container with silicon mat and then placing the batter in each muffin container. This is definitely NOT the professional way, but it does simplify the process.**



To make the ricotta filling:

Using an electric mixer or blender combine the ricotta with the sugar and vanilla.

Fold in the lemon and orange zest with a rubber spatula.

Place the mixture in a bowl, cover with clear plastic, place in the fridge, and when they are nearly ready to be served, proceed to the next step.



Cut the cream puffs in half and place about a tablespoon or more of the custard filling on the bottom half of each cream puff, then replace the tops.

Store in the fridge until needed.



Before serving the cream puffs dust the tops of the cream puffs with icing sugar.


Notes

It's hard to believe but these pastry puffs are really easy to do, and they taste as good, if not better, than some of the store-bought ones. Of course, it all depends on how the cream puff pastry dough turns out. And the success of that depends a lot on the type of equipment one has, the weather, one's mood etc. Generally speaking most recipes for pastry puffs are all the same, whether they are from Italian cookbooks or North American ones. Admittedly, I did add a touch of baking power and most recipes don't call for it. I found that the baking powder did no harm, in fact, I think it helped. Anyway recipes for "zeppole di San Giuseppe" are centuries old, except the original recipes did not contain any ricotta or custard. Basically, they were yet another sweet fritter sweet [For an older version of "zeppole di San Giuseppe" see the category "Fritters"]. By the late 19th century "zeppole di San Giuseppe" with cream fillings started to appear in Naples. Actually whether they originated in Naples or in Sicily is up for grabs, in any case, the updated version took off. Suddenly, many regions in the South (and in the North too) made these lovely pastry cream puffs on March 19th. Please note that in Molise's small towns and villages very few people did the cream puff version of "Zeppole di San Giuseppe" (Would have cost too much!). Well-to-do households, possibly those in the larger centers such the region's capital, Campobasso, might have indulged in such delicacies but few country folk did. Those who lived in the countryside generally made sweet fritters such as "screpelle" [see Fritters] on the Feast Day of Saint Joseph. Cream puffs were reserved for weddings and baptisms. Nonetheless, most Italian-Canadians, regardless of whether they were born in small Southern Italian villages or in large cities now purchase "Zeppole di San Giuseppe" at their local pastry shops for the San Giuseppe's feast day. Photo: Mary Melfi.

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