Zeppole di San Giuseppe

In Italy, it is tradition to prepare Zeppole for the 19th of March.

Like most Catholic countries, Italy connects Father’s Day with March 19th, Joseph’s Day, protector of fathers and patron saint of the Church.

Father’s Day was first mentioned in the first decades of the 20th century to celebrate fatherhood and fathers in general.

The first to celebrate this day were the Benedictine monks in 1030. It was with Pope Gregory XV, in 1621, that the festival in Italy became a canonical feast.

In the Bel Paese, every special event, every anniversary, every bank holiday is linked to a specific recipe. The typical dessert for this celebration is the “Zeppole di San Giuseppe”, rich in history and tradition.

This pastry from Campania is now prepared all over Italy. The most traditional ones are fried zeppole, but there is also the alternative in oven.

Delicious and tender, with cream (“crema pasticcera”) and wild cherries, zeppole are a real taste explosion for the palate.

To discover the secrets of this preparation, we went to Rita and Angelo Latina, owners of the famous Sicilian pastry shop, Paradiso dei Dolci . With their delicacies, the authentically prepared recipes of traditional Sicilian pastries and the Italian atmosphere, they conquered the heart of Nuremberg.

This is the right place to taste zeppole and a good source to learn how to prepare them at home. Follow Fabio’s advice, one of their two Sicilian confectioners.

And in case you are thinking about a gift for Father’s Day, take a look at our experiences and get some inspiration!

Recipe: ingredients and preparation of about 20 zeppole

Ingredients:

150 ml water
100 g margarine
25 g butter
13 g sugar
4 g salt
4 eggs at room temperature
150 g flour

FOR THE CREAM (CREMA PASTICCERA)

750 ml whole milk
250 ml of liquid cream
140 g of sugar
100 g of flour or cornstarch
5 egg yolks
the bark of a lemon

TO DECORATE
powdered sugar
weld cherries in syrup

Cream preparation

Put the milk, cream and grated lemon peel in a pot.
Let boil at low heath.
In the meantime, beat the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl.
Add the sifted flour and stir until it will become creamy and without lumps.
Add the hot milk, removing the lemon zest, over this mixture.
Cook at very low heat, constantly stirring until the cream has reached the desired consistency.

Zeppole Preparation

Add water, butter, margarine, salt and sugar in a pot. Dissolve and let boil.

Once the water starts to boil, lower the heat and add the flour. Strongly mix until it becomes a dry ball.

Let the mixture cool down and gradually add the eggs.

Fill with it a pastry bag. Cover a baking sheet with baking paper and create the desired shape.
Place the zeppole far apart from each other as they increase in volume during cooking.

Bake in the oven at 200° for about 20 minutes or fry them at 190° in oil.

Fill the center with the prepared cream. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and decorate with a sour cherry.

Trust the advice of Rita and Angelo and surprise your father and husband with this delicious recipe. If you’re in Nuremberg and would like to taste this typical dessert, do not miss a visit at Paradiso dei Dolci .

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