Final result

This traditional pastry dates back to 500AD during the reign of the roman empire. However by time these fritters started to be more associated with the feast of St.Joseph. Infact the more recent recipe is believed to have been modified by a convent of monks in the 19th century. Nevertheless these zeppole are very tasteful and delicious.

Preparation & Cooking Time: 50 minutes

Makes: 24 zeppole 

You will need:

For the Batter:

Lamb Brand Flour ‘00’ 130g

Lamb Brand Fine Table Salt ¼ tsp

Water 235ml

Butter 30g

Eggs 3

For the Filling:

Lamb Brand Castor Sugar 120g

Lamb Brand Flour ‘00’ 2 tbsp

Milk 470ml

Egg Yolks 4

Lemon zest 1, grated

For Cooking and Garnish:

Lamb Brand Glaced Cherries 12

Lamb Brand Icing Sugar for decoration

Sunflower Oil 1Ltr

Ingredients used in this recipe

All you have to do is:

For batter:

Pour water into a saucepan and add the salt and butter. Bring to a boil, while stirring. Add the flour to the mixture and mix well until smooth and it no longer sticks to the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and transfer batter to a bowl to cool. When cool, add the eggs, one at a time and mix together until well combined. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

For filling:

Pour milk into a saucepan, add the lemon zest and bring to a boil. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl with the castor sugar and incorporate the flour while whisking continuously. Once the milk begins to boil, remove from heat and slowly add to the sugar mixture, whisking as you go. The resulting mixture should be soft and creamy. Over medium heat, stir continuously until the cream becomes fairly dense.  Once ready, transfer the cream to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to let cool. Be sure to cover the bowl well so that cream won’t settle and harden. While you wait for the cream to cool, prepare the ‘zeppole’.

To make Zeppole:

Place the batter in a pastry bag and form pastry balls until you have used all the batter. 

Fill a pot with sunflower oil and place over high heat. Once hot, place the fritters in the oil. Once lightly browned, remove the fritters using a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels and let cool.

To fill:

Once the fritters are cool enough to handle, fill another pastry bag with pastry cream. Slit and fill each fritter with a little cream and place a cherry on top. Sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy the zeppole di San Giuseppe.

If you prefer to bake, rather than fry the zeppole, place them in the oven for 12 minutes or until they turn brown. Once cooked, you can garnish them as if they were fried.