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" From Glazed, Filled, Sugared &amp;amp;amp; Dipped: Easy Doughnut Recipes to Fry or Bake at Home (August 2013, $17.99), by Stephen Collucci with Elizabeth Gunnison This Thursday marks the beginning of the Feast of San Gennaro in New York City. What started 87 years ago as a single-day undertaking \u2013 the Neapolitan immigrants who lived along Mulberry Street parading a statue of their patron saint through the narrow lanes of Little Italy \u2013 has swollen into an eleven-day street fair complete with Italian folk bands, a parade, and a cannoli-eating contest. The streets are an unbroken line of vendor tents selling sausages and peppers, roast pork sandwiches, mozzarella sticks, and lots and lots of zeppole. Zeppole are a staple at Italian-American street fairs and feast days, which means that every kid from Bensonhurst to Belmar grows up knowing how to spot a good one: like a good cheese steak, it should practically melt through the waxed paper bag it&amp;#039;s served in. I was raised in Newark, New Jersey, part of a very large and very Italian family, which means that I ate more than my fair share of the fried dough balls in the course of my childhood. My mother would fry the leftover bits of pizza dough from dinner, toss them in confectioners&amp;#039; sugar, and we had zeppole (she called them &amp;quot;belly bombers,&amp;quot; which gets a lot across about their texture). These days, the version that I make at Colicchio &amp;amp;amp; Sons is a lighter (but still traditional) ricotta-based rendition. Start to finish, the whole process takes less than half an hour. When fried to perfection, the zeppole should be golden-brown on the outside, still a little doughy on the inside, and greasy enough to hold confectioner&amp;#039;s sugar like glue.  Ingredients  1 cup whole-milk ricotta 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 large eggs 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons granulated sugar Pinch of salt Vegetable oil, for frying \u00BE cup confectioners&amp;#039; sugar   Preparation In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the ricotta, vanilla, and eggs on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, until light in color and smooth. Transfer the ricotta mixture to a large saucepan set over medium-high heat. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, granulated sugar, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon to form a dough. Reduce the heat to medium and cook some of the moisture out of the dough, stirring it continually to prevent burning, 2 to 3 minutes or until a thin film forms on the bottom of the pan. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and refrigerate for about 20 minutes. Heat at least 2 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot fitted with a deep-fry thermometer until the oil reaches 350\u00B0F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with paper towels. Using a \u00BE-ounce (1\u00BC inches in diameter) ice cream scoop, gently drop balls of batter into the oil, taking care not to crowd the pot. (Note: Dipping your ice cream scoop or spoon into the fryer oil from time to time helps lubricate the scoop so that the dough pops neatly and easily into the fryer.) Fry for about 2 minutes, until light golden (they should be a little doughy on the inside). The balls tend to bob in the oil and rotate on their own, but it doesn&amp;#039;t hurt to nudge here and there so that they cook evenly on all sides. Drain on the paper-towel\u2013lined baking sheet (for more information about frying, see page 000). Toss them in the confectioners&amp;#039; sugar and serve them immediately. -As told to Elizabeth Gunnison Dunn "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/food/a24690/zeppole-recipe-san-gennaro/>