My Italian Cream Puffs are filled with a silky ricotta cream that’s rich without being heavy. It’s the classic choux pastry, still light and airy, and instead of the need to impress at first sight, it wins you over with texture, balance, and that quiet, creamy richness that builds with every bite.

The big picture stays the same: like most choux pastry recipes, the technique, ingredients, and process are nearly identical to what we use for Polish Cream Puff Cake or even chocolate cream puffs.

The difference is in the filling and the occasional frying: instead of a light, airy cream, these are filled with a hearty, full-bodied pastry cream folded with ricotta. And it is the tradition during St. Joseph’s Day for the dough to get a deep dive into a warm sizzling pot of hot oil, AKA zeppole di San Giuseppe. But worry not, I included instructions for both baking and frying in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Lets Make Them

This recipe has two components: the cream puffs, and the ricotta cream. I recommend making the cream first and give it the time to set and chill before adding the ricotta. I included a step-by-step images for a visual cues and all of my tips and tricks I learned as I was testing this recipe.

Make The Ricotta Cream Filling

I used my Italian Pastry Cream recipe, it is thick and rich, but feel free to use your favorite go-to recipe.
Prepping is key: measure and have all of the ingredients ready before you start making the cream.
Stirring is what makes or breaks this recipe, make sure to stir as you add the milk to the eggs and as you cook the cream with the eggs mixture. It goes pretty fast so no concern in getting tired or bored, and if you skip the eggs might curdle, or the cream might cook at the bottom into lumps.
Use a wooden spoon, an aluminum tool might give the custard and the pan a greenish-grayish color.
Do not rush cooking the cream, and if available, cook it until it reaches 180°F. It is the best way to prevent the cream from turning into a liquid instead of thickening.

A sauce pan with milk next to a bowl with beaten eggs and cornstarch and a fork. — Prep the cream ingredients: pour the liquids with the sugar in a medium sauce pan and beat the eggs with the cornstarch in a separate bowl.

Pouring warm milk into a bowl with eggs. — Bring the milk and the sugar into a full boil, then drizzle in 1/2 cup into the eggs mixture while stirring.

Pouring egg mixture to a pot while stirring. — Bring the milk and the sugar into a full boil, then drizzle in 1/2 cup into the eggs mixture while stirring.

Make The Cream Puffs

Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces, so it will melt as the same time the water reaches a boil.
If the flour mixture gets oily, do not worry, and keep following the recipe. It only means that the water has evaporated and the fat is expelling.
Do not add the eggs too soon, make sure the flour mixture has cooled enough and won’t cook the eggs when you add them.
When you add the eggs, it will look like a curdle mess, and that is ok. Make sure to add the eggs one at a time and keep mixing until it is smooth.
To bake: pipe the dough over a large baking sheet and bake, DO NOT open the oven mid-baking, or the cream puffs will collapse.
To fry: use a small or a medium cookie scoop to drop the dough into the oil.
To fill: this is true for when you bake or fry the dough. Fill a large piping bag with the ricotta cream and use the filling tip to prick a whole into the bottom of the pastries and filling them.

Water and pieces of butter in a sauce pan.

A sauce pan with flour mixture for cream puffs and a wooden spoon.

fried italian cream puffed filled with ricotta cream.

No ratings yet

Print Pin