Zeppole – Italian Doughnuts
Zeppole are tiny Italian doughnuts – crisp, light and incredibly fluffy. This version is made using a pate choux dough, which when fried, become so airy, tender and golden brown.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup water
- 8 Tablespoons butter (1/2 cup)
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup flour
- 4 eggs
- oil (for frying (vegetable, canola or peanut oil))
- powdered sugar (to dust the zeppole)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter, sugar and salt. Cook until the butter completely melts.
- Add the flour all at once and mix vigorously with a wooden spoon, until the dough comes together in a ball. Continue cooking for a minute or two.
- Place the dough in the bowl of a standing mixer. Mix with a paddle attachment, until you don’t see any more steam rising up from the bowl.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, until they are fully incorporated. You can also use a hand held mixer, or even mix up the dough by hand.
- Meanwhile, pour in enough oil into a large, heavy pot (I use my Dutch oven). You should have at least 2 inches of oil, I usually use one full container of oil. Heat up the oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Transfer the dough to a large ziptop bag. Cut a hole in one corner. Slowly pipe out the dough and cut off snippets of the dough right into the oil. Be careful not to splash yourself. You can also use 2 small spoons to drop bits of dough into the oil, or use a small portion scoop.
- Keep the temperature above 350 at all times, preferably 360-375 degrees.
- Fry the zeppole about 5 minutes, turning over the ones that don’t turn themselves over.
- Take them out of the oil using a slotted spoon and place them on a paper towel lined plate, baking sheet, etc. When you’re done frying all the zeppole, dust them with powdered sugar.