It’s the officially first day of spring. It’s quite rainy and dreary, but yesterday my sister and I went outside and played frisbee and jumped rope in some fairly warm sunshine, just like we did when we were kids, so maybe this whole social distancing/quarantine thing isn’t so bad.
Today also happens to be St. Joseph’s Day, the Italian response to St. Patrick’s Day. Usually, for St. Joseph’s Day I would go to a local bakery and pick up a Zeppola to mark the occasion. My father’s side of the family is Italian, and even when I was in college in Boston, my roommate and I made the long trek to the North End to hunt down a Zeppola because it just didn’t feel right for March 19th to come and go without one.
Of course, with everyone staying home, going out to get Zeppole for my family was not an option, so instead I decided I might as well try to make them at home. And they turned out, much to my surprise, really good. I hadn’t made a choux pastry in several years and I was worried it wouldn’t rise properly, but they emerged from the oven beautifully puffed, just as they should be. I especially love that the recipe I used added orange juice and zest to the dough which not only tastes great, but also makes the kitchen smell amazing as they bake!
Note on the cream: it could take overnight to set, so making it the day before is a great idea. If it never sets, which does happen, whip some very stiff, thick whipped cream, and then fold in the cream. You’ll have leftovers, but that’s no tragedy!
Recipe:
For the Choux Pastry:
Ingredients:
150 ml water
100 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
the zest of 1 orange
50 g unsalted butter
160 g all purpose flour
4 eggs
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400° F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a saucepan over low/medium heat add the water, orange juice, and butter.
When the butter has completely melted, add the orange zest and the flour.
With the help of a wooden spoon, stir well until the dough gets dense and it is ready when it begins to break away from the walls.
Dump the mixture into a bowl and let it cool. Once lukewarm, add eggs, one at a time, adding the following only when the previous one has been completely absorbed. (You can use a wooden spoon, but I used a stand mixer with the beater attachment).
Beat until completely smooth and creamy looking.
Transfer the mixture into pastry bag with a tip of your choosing (star is probably best), or none if you don’t have one.
On the prepared baking sheets, pipe a circle of about 4-5 inches, and then spiral to a slightly smaller circle on top, but still overlapping the bottom. There will still be a hole in the middle.
Place the zeppole in the preheated oven at 400° F for the first 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350° F (180° C) and bake for 20 more minutes. After that, open the oven a little and cook for additional 5 minutes.
Transfer onto a rack to cool.
For the filling:
Ingredients:
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
Method:
Place cream and vanilla extract into a medium saucepan over medium heat.
When it reaches a simmer, turn it of a let cool for 5 minutes.
While your cream cools, beat your egg yokes with the sugar until they become pale, about 2 minutes
While whisking, pour about 1/2 a cup of the cream mixture into the eggs. This will temper the egg yokes so they don’t scramble.
Pour the tempered egg yokes back into the saucepan
Return to low heat and whisk until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Pour the custard into a heatproof bowl and let cool for a few minutes before chilling it in the refrigerator until nicely set.
Assembly:
Ingredients:
Jarred cherry of your choice (I used Morello)
Method:
Carefully slice your zeppole in half like a hamburger bun
Put the cream filling into a piping bag
Pipe cream around the bottom of the zeppole, but stay within the outside edges
Put the top on and pipe cream to fill the hole in the middle
Place a cherry on top of the zeppole
Never Enough Counter Space 