Zeppole di San Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Day Pastries)

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 strip lemon zest (just the yellow part, no pith)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar, for the pastry cream
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 quarts vegetable or peanut oil, for frying
• 8 amarena or candied cherries, for topping
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

Before you cook

• Combine the water, butter, 1 tablespoon sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat.
• Remove the pan from the heat and dump in all the flour at once, stirring hard with a wooden spoon until it forms a smooth ball that pulls cleanly away from the sides.
• Return the pan to low heat and stir the dough for 1 to 2 minutes to dry it out slightly, then scrape it into a mixing bowl and let it cool for 8 to 10 minutes, until just warm to the touch.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time with a hand mixer or wooden spoon, making sure each egg is fully incorporated and glossy before adding the next.
• Spoon the finished choux dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
• Pipe the dough into 3-inch rings on squares of parchment paper, overlapping the ends slightly so each ring holds together, and set them aside.
• Heat the milk with the lemon zest strip in a saucepan over medium heat just until steaming, then remove from heat.
• Whisk the egg yolks and 2/3 cup sugar together in a bowl until pale, then whisk in the cornstarch until smooth.
• Fish the lemon zest out of the warm milk and slowly pour the milk into the egg mixture while whisking constantly.
• Pour everything back into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until the cream thickens to a pudding-like consistency, about 4 minutes.
• Stir in the vanilla, then press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the cream and refrigerate it until fully cooled, at least 1 hour.
• Spoon the cooled pastry cream into a clean piping bag fitted with a star tip.

Steps

1. Pour the frying oil into a deep, heavy pot until it's about 3 inches deep and heat it to 320°F on a deep-fry thermometer.
2. Slide one piped dough ring, still on its parchment square, gently into the oil, then peel away the parchment with tongs once the dough releases on its own after a few seconds.
3. Fry 2 to 3 rings at a time, keeping the oil steady at 320 to 330°F, for about 4 minutes per side, until deeply golden and cracked on the surface.
4. Lift the zeppole out with a slotted spoon and drain them on a wire rack set over paper towels.
5. Let the fried rings cool completely, at least 20 minutes, before filling — warm zeppole will melt the pastry cream.
6. Pipe a generous swirl of pastry cream over the top of each cooled ring, or split the ring in half and pipe cream into the middle before closing it back up.
7. Press one amarena cherry into the center of the cream on each zeppola.
8. Dust the finished zeppole with powdered sugar just before serving.