Updated Zeppole di San Giuseppe pastry recipe

Zeppole di San Giuseppe are Italian pastries. They are traditionally made for St. Joseph’s Day to celebrate St. Joseph, the husband of Mary and stepfather of Jesus. The traditional recipe uses Italian pastry cream, duh. Based on my personal preference, I find French pastry cream to be superior. The smooth, satiny texture that comes from the added butter makes for a much better result than the Italian method. In the recipe below, the pastry cream will be made using the French method.

While I’m not sure which came first, I like to compare the pastry creams here with St. Joseph and god. St. Joseph is Italian pastry cream and god is French pastry cream. As someone who doesn’t have first-hand experience with a stepfather, I can only speculate. But in this case, I feel like St. Joseph does a decent job but if given the choice, I’d go with the other option. Anyway, on to the recipe.

Pastry Cream Instructions

The pastry cream needs to chill in the fridge before filling so it’s best to prepare the pastry cream first. Add the milk, vanilla extract, and salt to a saucepan and heat to a simmer. Continue to heat for 3 minutes. While the milk is heating, combine the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch in a large bowl. Whisk vigorously until the mixture turns a pale yellow, around 2 minutes. Using a ladle, spoon the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. The idea is to temper the egg yolks so that when you add the mixture to the hot milk, the yolks don’t cook.

Add roughly half of the milk to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Next, stream the egg yolk mixture back into the hot milk, whisking constantly. Continue cooking for 3 minutes whisking constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. The mixture should hold the marks of the whisk when it’s getting close. If you stop whisking, the mixture should begin to bubble after a few seconds.

Remove the mixture from the heat and place the mixture in a fine mesh sieve. Using the whisk, press the mixture through the sieve. Next, stir the butter into the mixture, one piece at a time. Continue whisking until all of the butter has been incorporated.

Next, transfer the mixture to a storage container and place a piece of cling film over the top of the mixture to prevent a film from forming. Chill in the fridge for at least four hours. Once the mixture has chilled, mix it with the sour cream and add to a pastry bag with a 1/4″ rough pastry tip. Shake the bag to get any air bubbles out and place it in the fridge until ready to use.

Choux Pastry Notes

The specifics of making choux are detailed in one of my other posts. The description for making it here will be brief since the focus is on making Zeppole di San Giuseppe. Heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and place a rack in the middle of the oven. In a saucepan, heat the butter, milk, water, sugar, and salt and bring to a simmer. Once the mixture starts bubbling add the flour mixture and mix vigorously with a wooden spoon. The idea is to heat the flour and get rid of the raw flour taste. Continue to beat the mixture until the film that has formed on the bottom of the pan has reabsorbed into the mixture. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix for 30 seconds or so to cool the mixture down.

Add the eggs one at a time until the mixture is smooth. The mixture should hold the shape of a “V” when you remove the paddle attachment from the batter. You may not need to add the fifth egg, and you may need to add a sixth. If you’re not sure if your mixture is the right consistency, refer to my article on choux linked above with lots of pictures.

Zeppole di San Giuseppe Piping and Baking Notes

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a 1″ French star tip. Shake the bag a few times to remove any air bubbles. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, pipe the pastries. Place the tip of the piping bag on the parchment paper at a 45-degree angle and without lifting the tip off the parchment, pipe a 2-3″ diameter pastry puff, leaving a hole at the top in the center of the puff. Twist the tip when you want to stop piping for a clean break. Dip your fingers in water and press the rough edge of the dough back in for a clean end. Repeat for the rest of your pastries leaving 2-3″ between each on the baking sheet.

Alternatively, a well can be indented into a solid piping of choux pastry using your finger dipped in water.

Reduce the temperature in the oven to 375 degrees and add pans to the upper and lower racks of the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes. After 15 minutes, rotate the trays from top to bottom. Bake for the remainder of the time until lightly golden. Turn the heat off on the oven and prop the door open with a wooden spoon. This will allow the choux to cool slowly so that it doesn’t collapse. Remove from the oven after 15 minutes. Using a paring knife, poke a hole in the bottom of the puff pastry. This will make filling the choux with pastry cream much easier.

Fill the pastry puffs from the bottom with pastry cream. Add additional pastry cream on top of the indentation. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired, and top with a cherry or in this case, sliced almonds.

The Zeppole di San Giuseppe are best eaten the day of but can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.