Zeppole di San Giuseppe

On the nineteenth of March, every pasticceria in Naples fills its windows with these golden rings. Saint Joseph's Day has been celebrated this way for generations, the feast day becoming inseparable from these fried pastries. In southern Italy, this is also Father's Day, and so the zeppola carries double meaning: devotion to the saint, and love for the men who raised you.

The dough is pasta choux, the same foundation as French éclairs and profiteroles, but here it is fried rather than baked. This is not a concession to laziness. Frying creates a particular texture: crisp and golden on the outside, impossibly light within. The Neapolitan method produces something baked versions cannot replicate, a shell that shatters against your teeth before yielding to air.

The cream must be crema pasticcera, Italian pastry cream scented with lemon zest in the traditional manner. Not whipped cream, not mascarpone, not anything from a can. Pipe it generously into the hollow center, crown it with a single amarena cherry, dust with powdered sugar. This is the complete zeppola, and anything else is compromise.