Zeppole, Another Fun Recipe

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Now that I have your appetites peaked for another yummy Italian Desserts, let's get down to the business of a recipe that I found for it. This is a fairly simple recipe and looks like fun to make. It is adapted from a recipe that I found on The Food Network. Here goes:

ZEPPOLE RECIPE:

1 vanilla bean
½ cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 stick of butter
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1 cup all purpose flour
4 eggs
Olive oil for frying

Slit to open the vanilla bean lengthwise. You'll need to collect the seeds that are inside the vanilla bean by scraping them out of the bean shell. This can be accomplished easily with the back of a knife.
Place the scraped out vanilla bean seeds into a bowl and add the ½ cup sugar and the cinnamon.
Mix these together and set aside.
Now get a medium-sized sauce pan and mix together the butter, salt, 3 tablespoons of sugar and water.
Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil.
Remove pan from heat and add the flour and mix well.
Return the sauce pan mixture to the heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture forms a ball of dough. This should take approximately 3 to 5 minutes.
Place this mixture into a medium-sized mixing bowl and get out your hand electric mixer.
Next, you will add the eggs, one egg at a time, while beating on low speed. Make sure that you completely and thoroughly combine each egg into the dough mixture before adding the next one.
Beat the mixture until it is smooth. If you're not going to cook the Zeppole dough right away, then you'll need to cover the dough mixture with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to cook it.
To cook them, you'll need a frying pan that will accommodate a 2-inch depth of oil.
On medium heat, warm the oil to a temperature of 375 degrees F on a deep fry thermometer.
Place dollops of the dough into the hot oil by using a small ice cream scoop or 2 small spoons. You'll be using approximately 1 tablespoon of dough for each Zeppole.
Frying in batches, cook them until they are golden brown on all sides. This may require turning them several times.
The approximate cooking time for each should be around 5 minutes.
Remove the cook Zeppole with a slotted spoon or spatula and place on paper towels or other absorbent paper to drain.
Toss them with cinnamon & sugar combination and arrange on a plate or platter.
Serve them immediately.
Other recipes I found also incorporate Ricotta cheese into the batter / dough mixture to add a little different flavor to the finished product. You can still toss them with any cinnamon, granulated sugar or powdered sugar combination you like.

Have fun with this recipe. Be creative and marvel at the admiration from your family and friends when you serve them this yummy Italian Dessert.

Bon Appétit!

Beer Brewing