St Joseph's Day and Zeppoles

While all of us—Irish or not—were busy celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, many in the heavily Italian Northeast were preparing their zeppoles (pronounced zep’po lez) in honor of St. Joseph, the surrogate father of Jesus who’s name day is March 19.

Since our daughter, Elizabeth worked at the Providence Journal in Rhode Island and my husband’s middle name is Joseph—it seemed natural and necessary that I learn how to make these pastries. After an e-mail or two and even a telephone call (a rarity these days), Elizabeth sent me some information from an article published in the Journal and I got right to work.

First stop, my cookbook library to see how other recipes would compare with the one in the Journal article. There are differences, but they resemble each other closely. The Providence Journal buys zeppoles for all their employees in celebration of the holiday and there are evidently some heated discussions about what constitutes a “real” zeppole. Every neighborhood and even family has its own version.

The dough is a basic choux paste or cream puff dough. Some versions deep fry the puffs, while others bake them in the American tradition. I couldn’t imagine the need to further increase calories in this already amply rich pastry, so I baked them. There are a few tricks to baking cream puffs, however, and it had been so long since I made any that I did make a few mistakes on the first run. The second batch was perfect! Be sure to follow the directions exactly if you want to avoid the problems I encountered.

The shape and size of the puffs vary too—and I settled on a slightly wedge-shaped, medium puff. The wedge is used because St. Joseph was a carpenter and a wooden wedge was a tool of his trade. Something between not quite round and not quite square and about the size of a woman’s palm seemed just right.

The traditional celebration in Sicily includes a feast and a play wherein the town priest blesses the food. If you undertake this cooking endeavor, perhaps St. Joseph will smile down a blessing upon you and your zeppeles.

Puffs

One cup water
1 stick butter 4 large eggs
1 Tbsp. sugar 1 tsp. grated orange zest
One-half tsp. salt 1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 cup flour powdered sugar for dusting

Combine water, butter and salt in saucepan and bring to boiling; lower heat. Add flour, beating thoroughly and rapidly with a wooden spoon. Beat until mixture forms a ball and leaves the side of the pan (happens very quickly). Remove from heat and add eggs, one at a time; beat mixture thoroughly, about one minute for each egg. Continue beating until dough is shiny and satiny and breaks away when spoon is lifted. Drop from tablespoon onto parchment-lined baking sheet about two inches apart. Place in 450 degree oven and bake 12 minutes; reduce heat to 350 and then bake 25-30 minutes more or until brown. Puffs should sound hollow when tapped with fingertip. Turn out onto rack for cooling, avoiding drafts. Immediately pierce tops with a sharp knife to let out steam. When cool, cut off tops and fill with prepared filling. Dust with powdered sugar to serve.

Filling

3 cups whole milk ricotta cheese One-fourth cup candied lemon peel, grated*
One-half cup powdered sugar One-fourth cup mini chocolate chips (or
2 Tbsp. Grand Marnier (or other orange- bittersweet chocolate chopped into small
Flavored liqueur) optional pieces
One-fourth cup candied orange peel, grated One-half cup heavy cream, whipped

You can make your own candied peel or buy it at gourmet food stores such as Williams Sonoma. If you can’t locate candied peel, grated fresh zest can be used, 1 Tbsp. of each.

Blend ricotta and powdered sugar in a food processor until very smooth and creamy. Add Grand Marnier and pulse. Transfer to a clean bowl and stir in candied fruits, chocolate and whipped cream. Refrigerate until ready to use.