Chefs' Recipes

Zeppole (Italian doughnuts)

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for Zeppole (Italian doughnuts)

  • 40 mins preparation
  • 50 mins cooking plus cooling
  • Serves 8
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Zeppole (Italian doughnuts)
"This recipe has a festive feel about it but I love doughnuts so I actually cook these zeppole year round. The apple, orange and brandy give the dough mixture a lovely light texture." Jason Jujnovich, Divido, Mount Hawthorn, WA

Ingredients

  • For deep-frying: vegetable oil
  • 300 gm self-raising flour (2 cups)
  • 80 gm caster sugar
  • ½ pink lady apple, grated
  • Finely grated rind and juice of ½ orange
  • 60 ml milk (¼ cup)
  • 1 egg
  • 30 ml brandy
  • 220 gm caster sugar mixed with 2 tsp cinnamon (1 cup)
Strawberry compote
  • 500 gm strawberries (about 2 punnets), hulled
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 2 mint sprigs
  • Scraped seeds of 1 vanilla bean

Method

Main
  • 1
    For strawberry compote, combine ingredients in a heatproof bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place over a saucepan of gently simmering water and cook, without stirring, until strawberries are tender and syrupy (30-40 minutes), then refrigerate to cool.
  • 2
    Meanwhile, heat oil in a deep saucepan or deep-fryer to 180C. Combine flour, sugar, apple, orange rind and juice in a bowl, add milk, egg and brandy and stir to form a thick batter (add extra milk if mixture is too dry). Deep-fry tablespoons of mixture in batches, turning occasionally, until zeppole are golden and cooked through (1-2 minutes); be careful as hot oil may spit. Drain briefly on absorbent paper, dust with cinnamon sugar and serve hot with strawberry compote.

Notes

This recipe is from the May 2011 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller.