Zeppola

This Southern speciality, usually produced for the celebration of San Giuseppe’s Day, is made with eggs, yeast, 00 (doppio zero) flour and lard. The dough, deep-fried in oil, is usually extruded by a syringe, giving a round shape similar to that of ciambella. The cooked pastries are then dusted with icing sugar or filled with cream, or even dipped in honey diluted with water to make them absorbent and juicy. My mother used to bake a savoury version, with a piece of anchovy in the middle of the spoonful of dough, which gave an extremely tasty result.