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 Italian chocolate-flavored custard (or pastry cream)

4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups scalded (whole) milk
2 to 3 tablespoons flour

*For similar 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"

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.



To make chocolate-flavored Italian custard:



Mix egg yolks, sugar and vanilla.

Slowly add hot milk, beating constantly.

Add flour, beating constantly.

Place mixture in a sauce pan and cook over low heat until it boils and then thickens, all the while stirring it (and making sure it does not burn). When it has the look of a custard or thick cream, it's ready (Takes anywhere from 6 to 10 minutes).

Cool.



Wrap the cream puffs in clear plastic and keep in fridge until they are nearly ready to be used. Then cut them in half and place about a tablespoon or more of the custard filling on the bottom half of each cream puff, then replace its top.

Store in the fridge until needed.

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

There are many variations on this recipe. Notably, this is a modern take on the traditional zeppole recipe. Up the 19th century the recipes did not include any kind of custard or sweetened ricotta mixture, also the pastry doughs were fried, not baked (For older versions of the zeppole recipe see "Fritters"). However, nowadays most Italian pastry shops sell "zeppole di San Giuseppe" as cream puffs. In any case, this particular recipe I found easy to do and had a nice enough taste.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: by the contributor.

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