St Joseph’s pastries (Zeppole di San Giuseppe)

St Joseph’s pastries( Zeppole di San Giuseppe) are delicious Italian cream filled choux pastry puffs decorated with syrup-soaked amarena cherries. They are not only beautiful to look at but also delightful to taste. 

These cream filled pastries are one of the most popular dessert in Italy, prepared for the traditional Italian celebration of Saint Joseph (San Giuseppe), which falls on March 19th and over the years has also become Italian Father’s Day. I have to admit, St Joseph’s pastry cake are one of my favorite treats for Father’s Day, along with zeppole di riso Siciliane (rice crispelle), Sicilian crispelle and ricotta-filled Catania-style ravioli.

What are St Joseph’s pastries?

St Joseph’s pastries are made using Choux pastry dough, also known as pâte à choux or bignè pastry. They typically have the shape of large cream puffs, generously filled and decorated with pastry cream or Italian Chantilly cream. These pastries are available in a plethora of delightful variations. In Italy, you can also discover them featuring Italian pastry cream in various flavors such as chocolate, pistachio, and lemon cream. A particularly indulgent treat is the “two creams in zeppoles”.

The final touch on the pastry cream is an amarena, or a syrup-soaked cherry, on top and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. For those who prefer alternatives to syrup-soaked cherries, peanuts, chocolate chips, candied cherries, or maraschino cherries can serve as delightful substitutes.

The roots of this dessert can be traced back to traditional Neapolitan pastry, originating in the Campania region where it holds a special significance prepared for March 19th, Father’s Day.

Ingredients

The shopping list for our St Joseph pastry recipe, fried or baked, is the same. List is a bit long, but I’ll break it down section by section for you.

Choux pastry dough (puffs):

• All-purpose flour: you can also use a bread flour with more protein(11-12% is enough).
• Eggs (at room temperature): use large eggs.
• Water (at room temperature): takes less to boil.
• Unsalted butter: room temperature or fridge doesn’t matter.
• Salt

For Vanilla pastry cream(crema pasticcera):

• Whole milk: if you don’t like it you can use a 2%. I do not advice using a 3% or more.
• Unsalted Butter
• Cornstarch: some people like using flour to condense the pastry cream. 
• Grated orange zest
• Pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean: you can also use a vanilla bean paste.
• Egg yolks

Decoration:

• Amarena cherries: you can buy Syrup-soaked cherries, candied cherries or maraschino cherries.
• Confectionary sugar or powdered sugar.

How to make St Joseph’s Italian pastries

The process is not difficult but it is time-consuming. My best advice is to prepare in advance all the ingredients before beginning the recipe. This ensures that everything is on hand when needed and reduces the chances of forgetting something o weighing something incorrectly.

I typically suggest preparing the crema pasticcera (pastry cream) in advance, allowing it enough time to cool down.

Choux pastry dough – step by step

In a high-sided pot, pour water and cubed butter. Place the pot on the stovetop over medium heat.
Once the butter starts to melt and the water begins to warm up, add a pinch of salt. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine everything.

When the liquids are combined and almost boiling add all-purpose flour and continue to mix with the wooden spoon.

It’s important to maintain medium heat during this part of the process. The ingredients will bind together, creating a solid dough that you can shape into a ball. The dough should be compact but not too hard. Work for about 5-6 minutes in total.

Once you’ve finished combining and compacting these ingredients, move on to the second phase of the recipe, which is adding the eggs to the dough.

Remove from the stove. Let it rest 5- to 10 minutes until the dough has cooled slightly.
If you’re using a stand mixer, transfer the dough to the mixer bowl. Use the paddle attachment.
If this is your first time making zeppole, I recommend doing the process manually to understand the consistency you need. You can do it using a wooden spoon or a fork.

Often, using a mixer, if you’re not very sure of the result, you risk overworking the mixture and making it too soft and liquid. This, consequently, will ruin your zeppole. Once you’ve understood the consistency you’re looking for, the process will be easier to repeat and perfect in subsequent attempts. 

Proceed by adding the eggs, one at a time. Wait for each egg you’re working on to be well absorbed before adding the next one. Rushing the addition of eggs is a common mistake in this preparation.

After the eggs are added

When your dough is ready, the final result should be a soft mixture but with a fairly compact structure. If the dough is not consistent, then something went wrong.

Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.

How to Shape Your St Joseph’s pastries puffs:

To shape your puffs, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, create a ring of dough using a piping bag.

Trace a circle until the dough closes on itself. I like to make two overlapping circles. This way, my zeppole don’t open while baking, and when they cook, they rise in height. Don’t spread the diameter too much.

St Joseph’s pastries: baked or fried?

Traditionally, St Joseph’s pastries are decorated with a dollop of Chantilly cream and syrup-soaked sour cherries( amarena), are fried. I really love the baked version, where the zeppole are lighter and lower in calories, and they can be baked in either a conventional or convection oven.

Oven baked zeppole di San Giuseppe

Preheat the oven to 392°F(200°C) in static mode.

Place the St Joseph’s zeppole in the oven on the lowest rack and bake for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 338°F (170°C) and continue baking for another 10 minutes with the oven door slightly ajar.

You can simulate leaving the oven door ajar at home by using a piece of paper, aluminum foil, or a small cloth. To create a gap between the oven door and the oven, simply use a piece of aluminum foil to form a thickness. Place the foil between the door and the oven, leaving the door open by about half an inch. This will enable air to circulate and maintain the gap.

I like my zeppole tall because I enjoy cutting them in half and filling them internally with pastry cream. However, if you want to make zeppole filled only with a dollop of pastry cream on top, simply form a single ring of dough and close it by overlapping the ends.

Fried zeppole di San Giuseppe

Cut out 3-4 inch squares of parchment paper.

Pipe the dough into a ring onto a single square of parchment paper.

Fill a large frypan 3/4 full of oil, such as olive oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, or corn oil, taking note of the smoke point of the oil. To determine the smoke point, use a kitchen thermometer. Once the oil reaches the correct smoke point, you can begin dipping your parchment paper squares. Remember, dipping the zeppoles before the oil is at the smoking point can cause a lot of smoke while cooking.

The dough will fry and rise during the cooking process. Use a pair of tongs to turn the zeppoles over after 3-4 minutes, ensuring they don’t become too brown on the bottom.

When the st Joseph pastries are light brown on both sides, remove them from the frypan and place them on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Smoke point for the oils are:

• olive oil is 410°F (210°C)
• peanut oil is 441-445°F(227-229°C)
• sunflower oil is 320°F(160°C)
• corn oil 446-460°F (230-238°C)

To make the Crema pasticcera(custard)

In a saucepan, combine the milk, butter, vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla extract), and finely sliced orange zest. Heat over medium-high heat.

In a separate bowl, mix together sugar and cornstarch. Combine with a whisk.

Add the egg yolks to the sugar and cornstarch mixture and mix well until thick and creamy.

Once the milk mixture is very hot, almost boiling, remove it from the heat. It should not boil.

Transfer the hot milk to the bowl with the sugar, cornstarch, and egg yolks mixture. With a whisk, quickly work everything together until the powders are completely dissolved in the milk. Don’t worry if you need to work the mixture a bit more to eliminate any cornstarch lumps.

Transfer everything back to the saucepan and place it back on the heat. Continue cooking while stirring constantly. The cream will begin to thicken after just a minute or two. Work vigorously to prevent lumps from forming. Even if you see a few lumps, don’t worry, continue to work energetically until it starts to thicken.

Turn off the heat. Continue to work until the cream reaches the right thickness and is smooth. Immediately remove from the saucepan and transfer to a glass bowl.

Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap should be in direct contact with the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming and to prevent condensation. 

Assemble the zeppoles

Transfer the pastry cream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Carefully cut the zeppole in half with a knife and, starting from the center in a circular motion, apply a layer of pastry cream inside. I like using the star pipe or a finger to make a little hole at the bottom of the zeppoles and pipe some crema pasticcera inside.

Reassemble the zeppoles by placing the top part of the puff over the pastry cream filling. Starting from the center, apply a swirl of pastry cream on top.

Decorate with an amarena cherry and powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Additional toppings

Fill and decorate St Joseph’s pastries, you have a variety of options, from chocolate drizzles, hazelnuts cream to fruit-based creams. Just let your imagination run wild!

In this instance, we’ve used traditional vanilla cream, made with whole milk and fresh eggs. You can also use partially skimmed milk (2% fat) if you prefer, but I don’t recommend using other types of milk (such as lactose-free milk, coconut milk, or milk with fat percentages lower than 2% total fat).

Alternatively, you can also sprinkle the surface with granulated sugar. With heat, the sugar will produce a layer of liquid that will prevent the formation of a skin on the surface of the cream.

How store your St Joseph day pastries

Store puffs in a dry container with a lid for up to five days when not filled. However, if filled with pastry creams, they should be consumed within 6 to 12 hours, as they tend to become mushy over time.

If you have leftover zeppoles, store them in a container with a lid and place them directly in the refrigerator. Do not leave them out for more than 12 hours, as the risk is the cream going bad.

How serve the Zeppole di San Giuseppe

Serve them on their own or accompanied by a fine liqueur such as limoncello, mandarinetto or citrus cream liqueur. They pair wonderfully with black espresso or coffee.

You will love them with cappuccino for breakfast or an afternoon break. They are a perfect dessert for any event adding a touch of sweetness and indulgence to any celebration.

Practical Tips and Tricks

If you need to make more or fewer st Joseph pastries, use the serving size adjuster in the recipe card below. Adjust the number of zeppole under the “Servings” section, and the quantities will adapt accordingly or use the 1x,2x,3x settings to double or triple your servings.

• Measure all your ingredient with a kitchen scale. If you use cups it is easy to not measure the correct amout of water or flour and end up with a runny batch. 
• Use a flour with at least 11-12% of proteins. It is not a must do, but high proteine flours are better for this type of recipe.
• Follow the steps without skipping any, this recipe could turn into a disaster in a minute!
• Wait for the St Joseph’s zeppole to cool well before filling them.
• Let the water evaporate. When preparing the initial Choux pastry dough, it’s important to cook the dough for at least 5 minutes while stirring with a wooden spoon. This will evaporate as much water as possible from the dough. If you skip this step, you risk the final dough being too liquid and not consistent enough due to the high residual water content.
• Make ahead. If you want to prepare the puffs in advance, you can do so, even several days ahead. Store the zeppole in a container with a lid. Do not fill the zeppole until the day you plan to serve them.
• Crema pasticcera. You can make your crema pasticcera the day before and refrigerate it. 
• Flat puffs. Means you didn’t cook them enough. Extend the baking time. Ovens are usually all different, so the baking time can be slightly different.

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