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Pastries
Sfinge di San Giuseppe
Sfinge [Zeppole] di San Giuseppe (Cream Puffs with Ricotta and Honey)
Originated from: Southern Italy
Occasion: Feast Day of Saint Joseph
Contributed by: Mary Melfi

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Ingredients

Cream Puff Pastry Dough (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)
3 tablespoons honey
Finely grated zest of 1 small orange
Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon

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 about three minutes.

Place the flour and butter mixture in an electric mixer bowl (or if one prefers to do it the professional one, one can do the next few steps by hand, but this will take a lot more effort)

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 all the ingredients. The filling is now ready to be used in the cooked cream puffs.



When all the cream puffs have cooled, wrap them in clear plastic and keep in fridge until they are nearly ready to be used. Then cut them in half and place about 3 tablespoons 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

This is yet another variation on the modern-style zeppole and/or "sfinge" recipe. For older variations on the zeppole or "sfinge" recipe see the category, "Fritters." Prior to World War II most desserts in Southern Italy were fried as few households had indoor ovens. As most people know, Italians at that time, made use of communal ovens, but of course, that increased the cost of the desserts. So farmers did the best they could with what they had. In any case, I find that today's cooks are adding more and more ingredients to the Saint Joseph sweets and not necessarily improving on the original recipes. Most North American pastry shops now top the cream puffs with whipped cream, an addition I personally do not like. But then that might just be me....

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