Sicilian Sfingi di San Giuseppe

Sfingi: these are filled cream puffs. Sicilians say Sfingi instead of zeppole but it's basically the same thing.  Sicilians also use ricotta instead of custard cream.  

Ingredients Sfingi:

• 1 1/2 Cups water
• 5 Tbs butter
• 3/4 Cup flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 Tsp. limoncello
• 1 Tbs vanilla
• Ingredients Ricotta Cannoli Cream:
• 1 Quart whole milk ricotta
• 2 Cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tsp. orange zest
• 2 Tsp. vanilla extract
• Ingredients Custard Cream:
• 1/3 Cup sugar
• 2 Tbs Corn starch
• 1/8 Tsp Salt
• 2 Egg yolks - Beaten
• 2 Cups Milk
• 2 Tsp Vanilla

Directions:

1. Sfingi:
2. In a medium pot, boil water, then remove from heat and add Limoncello, vanilla and then flour all at once.
3. Stir immediately till smooth. Add butter and bring back to the heat stirring.
4. The flour should form a dough ball and stick to the pan. Remove from heat and let cool. Add eggs one at a time, stir completely into the dough before adding the next.
5. Let the dough rest 15 min. Using a soup spoon, place spoonful size of dough on a greased cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between each sfingi.
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes then reduce to 375 for another 15-20 minutes until golden. They will double in size.
7. Turn off the heat but let the sfingi cool off in the oven.
8. Gently slice open and fill with Ricotta cannoli cream, dust with powdered sugar and top with an optional cherry.
9. Ricotta Cannoli Cream:
10. Line a colander with cheesecloth, add the ricotta and let drain until dry. Squeeze out any excess moisture.
11. Place dry ricotta into a bowl and beat with a mixer 5-7 minutes until fluffy.
12. Add sugar, zest and vanilla, mix on medium until blended. Place the filling into a piping bag and fill the sfingi.
13. Custard Cream:
14. In a pot combine cornstarch, salt, milk and sugar, bring to a slow boil for 1 minute.
15. In a bowl, beat yolks and add 1/2 of the milk mixture from the pot, mix well.
16. Bring the egg mixture back to the pot combining well with the milk mixture and bring back to a slow boil for 1 minute.
17. Remove from the heat and add in vanilla extract and butter.
18. Stir well until blended. Let cool before filling pastry.