What a weekend....Spring just began, after a  ridiculous amount of snowfall for my area (almost 90 in.
for the season, not at all normal), It's Purim, the Supermoon shone brightly for a few nights, St.Patrick's
Day, and of course the tragic Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, compounded with scary news out of
Libya.  Quite a lot going on..did I mention the nonsense known as Charlie Sheen?  And every year on
March 19, Catholics honor the man who was the foster father of Jesus..St.Joseph.  There is hardly a
Catholic Church on Earth that doesn't have a representation of him, either a statue, or painting, or
stained glass window depicting him usually holding the Baby Jesus along with a long flowering
staff.  In particular, the Mediterranean countries step up their devotion to St.Joseph..Italy and Sicily
in a big way.  During the Middle Ages the story goes, St.Joseph brought the end of a terrible drought
which was raging for many months.  In thankgiving, the Sicilian people vowed to honor him with
offerings of fancy breads, special sweets, large tables (altars) laden with flowers, foods, candles all
to say Thank you for saving the Sicilian people.  I took this picture of St.Joseph in my parish church
here at the Jersey Shore yesterday during the feast of St.Joseph.  In Italy the 19th of March is cele-
brated as a Father's Day, so after I made the traditional SFINGI DI SAN GIUSEPPE pastry yesterday,
I went to church to light a candle in my Dad's memory, and to thank St.Joe for giving me the gift of
being a Dad.  What are Sfingi?  The name means SPHINX and they must have resembled them
along the line.  It's an oversized cream puff dough, sliced and filled with a traditional Sicilian ricotta
cream, flavored with cinnamon oil, citron, vanilla, confectioner's sugar, and topped with a candied
fruit..traditionally it's a candied quince or orange peel.  No quince to be had, so I topped mine with
a Sicilian Blood Orange slice I candied myself.

While these are specialties of March 19, many Italian-American pastry shops sell them right up thru
the Easter holiday.  For that next Spring dinner or entertaining you do...make a tray of these and
watch your guests say WOW.  Just in case, have a tray of Chocolate Chip Cookies for the less ad-
venturous at your table.
Start with a good ricotta, find this at an Italian Grocery, it comes in a tin with a puffy plastic cover on
top.  For 8 -10 sfingi, you will need 2 lbs. of ricotta, these are quite full with cream.  If the fresh ricotta
is not to be found, you will need to drain over night, the ricotta in a colander, cheese wrapped in
cheese cloth.  Then squeeze the remaining moisture out of it the next day.  The drier the ricotta,
the better your creme will be.  Straight out of the container, the commercial product is too loose for
this.  Here's the ricotta I used:
 



You will be licking this type off your fingers it's so good.  In a bowl,
mix 1/8 cup of Powdered sugar, a tiny drop of Cinnamon oil (any more and this filling will taste like a box
of Red Hots) or 1 tsp. of good ground Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. good vanilla, 1 tsp. of orange zest, and 1/8 cup
of finely diced citron(not the fruit cake glop in the plastic tins, you can only find this at an Italian Deli or on-
line, it comes in a 1/2 of a fruit size and will last in your refrigerator like...indefinitely.  Buy the smallest
piece you can find.)  Blend all these ingredients and chill overnight or for AT LEAST 3 hours. 
Next, time to make the sfingi shells, which are just Pate Choux  dough, cream puff dough.  Bring 1 cup
of water, with 1/8 tsp. salt to a boil, then add 2 sticks of unsalted butter and after it melts and comes to
a boil again, add 1 cup of SIFTED FLOUR and with a wooden spoon mix and blend until the dough forms
a ball in the pot and pulls AWAY from the sides and bottom  At that point, turn off the flame.



Now, beat 3 eggs, each one at a time into the dough until the egg is completely incorporated
and the dough turns into a shiny ball. Again, this process is done 3 times.  Then let it cool
for 5 minutes.


Pre heat the oven to 450 degrees.  Then on a parchment paper or sil-pat layered baking pan, pipe out
8-10 of the sfingi in a tight circle.  If you do not have a pastry bag ( i do not)  use a ziplock bag that you
have cut off on a diagonal a corner of the bag, maybe 1/2 inch of it.  Works like a charm.
  Place the sheet into
the hot oven and leave it there for 20 minutes.  Now lower the heat to 325 degrees, rotate the
pan, and let it cook for 15-20 more minutes, until the tops are golden brown and when you tap
them they sound hollow.  Let them cool for 10 minutes then slice them in half.  Sometimes there
is some uncooked or very moist dough on the inside.  With the insides up, place them back into
the oven on off for 10 minutes and this will dry up any of that too moist interior.  Take them out
and gently scrape most of the insides out and discard. 


Your kitchen should be smelling like an Italian pastry shop now.  When the shells have cooled com-
pletely, fill them generously with the ricotta cream.  Sprinkle them with powedered sugar and top with
a candided fruit, the orange peel, or a cherry, or both.  If you have any chopped roasted pistachio nuts
toss them along with some confetti over them.  Then, into the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.



Once you've mastered that choux dough, you can create Bons Bons, Profiteroles (cream puffs filled
with ice cream and drizzled w/ chocolate sauce), cream puffs, eclairs, etc.  See, did you know that
when you started reading this you were on your way to becoming a baker/pastry chef??  Well, my
job tonight is done.  Yesterday I continued a family tradition, and one that is part of my cultural
heritage, and tonight, I've turned you into a possible pastry chef.  A nice, sweet way to welcome
Spring!!