Zeppole di San Giuseppe Pastries
This take on the classic Italian pastries traditionally made for St. Joseph's day combines choux and pastry cream for a delicious combination
Servings 18 pastries
Equipment
- pastry bag with star nozzle (optional but recommended for a clean look)
- Stand Mixer
- Fine-mesh strainer
- baking tray w/ parchment paper
Ingredients
Pastry Cream Ingredients
- 456 ml Whole Milk (1 cup)
- 10 grams Vanilla Extract (1 tsp)
- 2 grams Kosher Salt (1 tsp)
- 100 grams granulated sugar (½ cup)
- 30 grams cornstarch (¼ cup)
- 5 large egg yolks
- 56 grams sour cream (¼ cup)
Pâte à Choux
- Batch of Choux Pastry (https://trophyhusbandbakeshop.com/choux-pastry-recipe/)
- Cherries or sliced almonds/chopped pistachios for topping
Instructions
Pastry Cream
- Place a fine mesh sieve over the top of a large heatproof bowl, preferably metal, you'll see why later.
- Separate the eggs and set aside
- Combine the milk, vanilla extract and salt in a medium, heavy-bottomed sauce pan and over low-medium heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking occasionally.
- While the milk is heating up, combine the sugar, egg yolks and cornstarch in a large bowl and whisk to combine, Go overboard and really give your forearms a workout, switching between your left and right hand when one gets tired. The mix will seem too thick initially but will thin out the more you whisk it, around 2 minutes
- Using a ladle and whisking constantly, add around half of the hot milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture. This tempers the egg yolk mixture so when you add it back to the pan, it doesn't cook the egg yolks.
- Whisking the hot milk mixture constantly, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan.
- Continue to constantly whisk the mixture in the pan and increase heat to medium. Cook for around 3 minutes or until the mixture holds the marks of the whisk and has thickened up to the consistency of pudding. If you stop whisking for a few seconds, the mixture should start bubbling.
- At this point, remove the pan from the heat and transfer the mixture to the fine mesh sieve you set up earlier. Using the whisk, press the mixture through the sieve, discarding any solids.
- Whisk the butter into the mixture, one piece at a time until smooth. If the mixture cools too much and the butter isn't melting, place the (hopefully) metal bowl over the stove top on very low heat. Whisk constantly to bring the temperature of the pastry cream up enough to melt the remainder of the butter.
- Transfer the pastry cream to a storage container and place a piece of cling film directly on top of the pastry cream to prevent a film from forming. Place in the fridge until cold, at least 4 hours.
- Once cold, combine the sour cream with the pastry cream in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Transfer the pastry cream to pastry bag with a 1/4" round pastry tip.
- Shake the bag a few times to get any air bubbles out and store in the fridge until ready to use.
Choux Prep and Piping
- Prepare the choux pastry as described in the recipe linked here:https://trophyhusbandbakeshop.com/choux-pastry-recipe/
- Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a 1" star tip. Shake the bag a few times to get any air bubbles out and twist the bag to close.
- Place the tip of the piping bag on the parchment paper at a 45 degree angle and without lifting the tip off of 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
- Dust the tops of your puffs with a bit of powdered sugar or spray them with a bit of cooking spray like pam.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375 until golden brown. Rotate the trays from the bottom to the top racks halfway through baking
Filling and Finishing Notes
- Once done, turn the oven off and leave the puffs inside to cool for 15-20 minutes. Prop the oven door open to help them cool slowly. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge so it can start warming up.
- Remove the puffs from the oven and using a small paring knife, poke a hole in the bottom of each puff to allow steam to escape and to help with filling later. Let the puffs cool completely on the baking trays.
- Take the bag of pastry cream and insert the tip into the bottom of one of the puffs and squeeze the bag to fill. The puff should be sufficiently filled but not so much that they're bursting. Repeat with the rest of the puffs. Pipe more filling into the indentation on top of each puff
- Dust each pastry puff with powdered sugar if desired and top with chopped nuts, a cherry or whatever is desired.
- These pastries are best eaten day of but can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a day or so.