- Today, we're making a recipe.
that'll make your childhood dreams come true.
Let me show ya.
(upbeat music)
Hey everybody.
It's Natasha of natashaskitchen.com
and today I'm going to teach you how to make zeppole.
These are Italian donuts, melt in your mouth delicious
and the kids go crazy for these
and I'm seriously craving donuts.
So let's get started.
(counter thuds) (bell dings)
Place a medium sauce pan over medium heat
and add half a cup of water,
along with half a cup of whole milk,
then eight tablespoons of unsalted butter.
If you use softened butter or cut the butter into pieces
it will melt in much quicker.
Also add one teaspoon of sugar
and just a quarter teaspoon of salt.
Once the butter is melted, bring that to a boil
over medium heat, then remove it from the heat completely
and stir in one cup of flour all at once
using a wooden spoon.
Once all of the flour is incorporated
and you don't see any white flour streaks anymore,
you can place that back over medium heat
and continue stirring constantly
for about one and a half to two minutes
to release the excess moisture from the dough
and you also want to partially cook the flour.
You should also see a thin film form
on the bottom of the pan and the dough will come together
into one smooth mass.
After a couple minutes, take it off the heat
and you need to cool the dough slightly.
To quickly cool the dough,
transfer it to a large mixing bowl,
and use an electric hand mixer
to beat the dough for about a minute.
Next, add four large room temperature eggs,
adding them one at a time and let them fully incorporate
into the batter before adding the next egg.
Once all of the eggs are in and incorporated,
continue beating another minute until the dough is smooth
and forms a thick ribbon when you pull up on the whisk.
Transfer the batter to a large piping bag
with a half inch opening.
You can also use a large Ziploc bag
and cut one of the corners to a half inch.
We're gonna use just about half of the batter at this point.
Make sure you don't overfill your bag.
You want to have enough room to twist the bag and seal it.
Since zeppole are fried Italian donuts,
make sure to preheat your oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can either use a pot or Dutch oven
with a thermometer clip attached,
and I will leave a link to these that I use and love
in the notes.
Using a thermometer for frying is really important.
Otherwise, if the oil gets too cold,
the doughnuts will absorb too much oil.
And if it's too hot, they can burn.
Also a food strainer like this one will make it easy
to collect the fried donuts.
Today, we're gonna use one of my favorite kitchen tools.
It is our deep fryer.
I will leave a link to this and all the tools I showed you
in the recipe notes.
It's easy because you can set the temperature
and you don't have to worry about it.
It also automatically filters your oil,
so there's very little maintenance required
and everything that needs washing is pretty much
dishwasher friendly.
You'll also want to set up a tray lined with paper towels
to soak up any extra oil from the donuts.
Once the oil is preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit,
you'll need your filled piping bag
and a pair of kitchen scissors.
Pipe the batter into the hot oil snipping briskly
to make sure you have a clean cut.
You'll want to pipe and cut the dough into about
half inch pieces.
Fry those for about four to five minutes total,
and they should puff up and flip over naturally.
But if they don't, you can use some tongs to flip them over.
Repeat the process with the next batch of doughnuts.
It usually takes about three batches to get done.
You don't want to overcrowd the oil
or you can cool down the oil too quickly.
(oil sizzling)
Once the donuts are deeply golden in color,
you want to remove them from the oil and transfer them
to that paper towel lined platter.
Once all of the donuts are fried, it's time to serve.
And I love to serve these with a generous coating
of powdered sugar.
Here's some fun serving ideas.
You can keep it simple and just put them
onto a serving platter, dusting with powdered sugar
between layers.
And be generous with the powdered sugar.
Remember there's only one teaspoon of sugar in the dough.
You can also serve them fancier by making a cone
out of parchment paper.
Form the cone, then fold down the bottom to keep it sealed
and fill it up with powdered sugar donuts.
- I find this as my favorite way to portion control.
Otherwise, I end up eating way too many
of these zeppole donuts.
Lastly, you can serve them up the traditional way
or carnival style.
Fold down the edges of a paper lunch bag
and fill the bag with donuts,
adding a generous amount of powdered sugar.
All right.
The truth is it doesn't really matter how you serve them
because they disappear in like five seconds.
So before the kids get home from school,
we're gonna do a taste test, while they're still here.
(Natasha laughs)
All right.
The most important thing is not how you serve them
but how you eat them.
So I will demonstrate.
You're welcome. (giggles)
Okay, there we go.
Okay, ready?
Oh, Nope.
One, okay.
Practice run.
I was so close.
Okay, here we go.
- [Husband] I got it.
You don't want that one.
You don't want it. (laughing)
Oh boy.
Okay. (giggles)
Okay.
Third time's the charm.
I have to get this.
Otherwise, I don't know.
Ready?
Oh! (laughs)
Oh, mm.
These seriously melt in your mouth.
And it's like all donut dreams coming true right here.
They're dangerous.
I mean, they're so good.
That's what I mean.
They're dangerous.
I love that they're a little bit crisp on the outside,
but so soft and airy on the inside.
And remember the inside of the donut doesn't have very
much sweetness to it because we put just a teaspoon of sugar
in the batter, but you can control the sweetness
with the added powdered sugar on top.
If you've never made zeppole before,
I hope you realize just how easy these are to make.
They come together fast.
I mean, it's like 30 to 45 minutes from start to finish,
easy peasy.
This is gonna become a new favorite for you.
And if you have this dough mastered,
this is the exact same dough that we use
for churros, cream puffs, and eclairs.
One dough, all of these recipes.
So once you get it down, you're gonna be a baking pro.
I hope these become a new favorite recipe for you.
And we'll see you in our next video.
Uh-oh, here he comes.
And there go the donuts.
All right, our taste tester.
Just, just start with one, start with one.
I know it's hard.
- Mm.
These are so good.
Are they good?
Aren't they good?
All right.
Okay, that's enough.
(chuckles) I think I'll have another, or maybe 10 more.
- Shh!