Frittelle: Traditional Italian Christmas Eve Doughnuts (Zeppole)
Zeppole or frittelle are traditional Italian Christmas Eve doughnuts which are made from a sticky, flavored version of bread dough. However, there’s nothing plain about them once they’re ready: they’re incredibly delicious and light!
Every year, my mother makes these zeppole or frittelle (a type of Italian doughnut), for Christmas Eve and we stuff ourselves silly because we just can’t help it–they’re so good!
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What are Zeppoles?
First of all, the word “zeppole” is already plural, so everyone asking “what are zeppoles?” on Google, are double pluralizing the word–now you know. 😊 Zeppole are a form of Italian doughnuts. There are at minimum, two main types of zeppole:
- One type of zeppole are made from a flavored, wet bread dough, made with yeast, which is the recipe I’m sharing with you here.
- The other type of zeppole are made with choux pastry (these are more often associated with St. Joseph’s day).
For this recipe, just type “zeppole” into the search bar at the upper right hand side of my page (under my logo) and you’ll be taken there.
An Italian Christmas Eve Tradition
Just like cioffe or frappe, which I posted earlier this year, these doughnuts are called by many different names, depending on the region of Italy where they are made. I wouldn’t even know how to write the name that my family calls them (because it’s in dialect), but the fancier way to pronounce the dialect version is “torciniegli.”
I don’t believe anyone can eat just one frittella. Truly, I don’t think it’s ever happened. I start eating them as I’m standing at the stove, frying them; are you getting the picture here?
You may also enjoy these Italian ricotta doughnuts.
These babies are awesome! But there’s one thing we always ask ourselves when we’re in the midst of our frittelle frenzy, “Why do we only make these once a year on Christmas Eve?” Of course, it’s tradition to make them then, but what I can’t believe is that we don’t make them more often!
If you’re interested in more, here are some authentic Italian Christmas Eve dishes
Maybe it’s the same reason we don’t make turkey with stuffing, and pumpkin pie in April: because it’s tradition to make these dishes at a specific time of year. Or maybe not, because I’m putting a note on my calendar for March 15th (as good a day as any) to make zeppole again–yep, I’m gonna be a rebel!
Interested in a British Christmas tradition? Read all about Christmas Pudding, and Christmas cake.
Here’s another reason we kick ourselves: they’re so easy to make! You’ll get your hands a bit sticky with dough, but there’s no rolling and cutting like traditional yeast doughnuts! Give them a try, and maybe you will also be putting March 15th down on your calendar, as “Frittelle Making Day”, too.
How do you Make Zeppole From Scratch?
Zeppole, or frittelle, are made from a very wet bread dough, and then deep fried. Follow the recipe below for simple step by step directions.
Can Zeppole be Frozen?
In short, yes you can freeze them. However, I would advise against it. The texture will not be the same as when they were fresh, and they will be sticky. In essence, they simply don’t freeze well.
Zeppole or Frittelle: Traditional Italian
Christmas Eve Doughnuts
Recipe from my Nonna Chiarina
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Ingredients
- flour
- salt
- sugar
- yeast
- water
- lemon juice
- lemon peel
- rum soaked raisins
- olive oil
Special equipment: deep fryer (or wok or pot), tongs and if desired, a candy thermometer.
Make the Zeppole/Frittelle Dough
Put the yeast in the water and set aside for 5 minutes.
Place the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl and mix together. After the yeast is ready, pour the water and yeast mixture into the bowl along with the juice and peel, and mix by hand until a very sticky dough forms (if using rum-soaked raisins, add them at this time).
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until at least doubled.
It will look like the photo below when it is ready.
Next, place the oil into a deep pan (I used a wok) and heat to a medium high temperature.
Test the oil by dropping a tiny piece of dough into it: if it doesn’t begin to fry right away, the oil is too cold; if the dough browns too quickly, lower the heat as the oil is too hot.
When the oil temperature is correct (you can use a candy thermometer to check for 350F), take a piece of dough (it will be very sticky) and pull into a doughnut shape with a hole in the center, as shown.
Fry the Zeppole/Frittelle
Next, drop the doughnut into the hot oil and continue to make more. It is necessary to have another person frying the doughnuts while one person is shaping them. It is just too difficult (and dangerous) to do both things at once, since the dough is very sticky.
The zeppole will rise and cook quickly, so turn them as soon as they begin to brown on one side. Once they are cooked, remove them from the oil and place on paper-towel lined plate for a minute or two.
Serve the Zeppole/Frittelle
Finally, dip the zeppole into the sugar and cover completely. Place on a serving plate, if they make it that far! You can eat them without sugar if you prefer, but remember, the dough isn’t very sweet.
I highly suggest serving these immediately!
Zeppole or frittelle are truly best when eaten the same day they are made. I served them piled on a glass cake plate.
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Frittelle: Traditional Italian Christmas Eve Doughnuts
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- ¾ tsp dried yeast
- 8 oz water lukewarm
- 1 Tbsp orange or lemon juice
- 1 tsp orange or lemon peel
- ½ cup raisins soaked in rum, optional
- ¼ cup sugar
- 13 oz olive oil any olive oil works, but I like Costco's olive oil (refined olive oil with 15% extra virgin)
Instructions
- Put the yeast in the water and set aside for 5 minutes.
- Place the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl; mix together and after the yeast is ready, pour the water and yeast mixture into the bowl along with the juice and peel, and mix by hand until a very sticky dough forms (if using rum-soaked raisins, add them at this time).
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until at least doubled.
- Place the oil into a deep pan (I used a wok) and heat to a medium high temperature.
- Test the oil by dropping a tiny piece of dough into it: if it doesn't begin to fry right away, the oil is too cold; if the dough browns too quickly, lower the heat as the oil is too hot.
- When the oil temperature is correct, take a piece of dough (it will be very sticky) and pull into a doughnut shape with a hole in the center.
- Drop into the hot oil and continue to make more. It is helpful to have another person frying the doughnuts while one person is shaping them, as it just too difficult to do both things at once, since the dough is so sticky.
- The frittelle will rise and cook quickly, so turn them as soon as they begin to brown on one side. Once they are cooked, remove them from the oil and place on paper-towel lined plate for a minute or two.
- Dip the frittelle into the sugar and cover completely. Place on a serving plate. Best eaten the same day.
Notes
- You can make these savory, too. Just omit the sugar.
- Quantity of olive oil will depend on how large or small your pot or pan is to fry the frittelle.
Nutrition
LA Living…
a winter sunrise from my back door.
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zeppole
christina,
ok,you are right, they were frittelle, but i”m still going to try and put raisans and cod fish in them .lol
now can you tell me how to make realy hard dark molasses, nut cookies that my grandfather
had to dip in red wine to eat. oh how good they were. (not besqutittes) buy a hard molasses cookie.
oh please tell me you know,
I’m so sorry, but I have NO clue and I even asked my mother who is here right now. Did you try google? I’d do an image search and that way you might be able to spot the ones that look the most similar.
If from Naples we call them Roccoco, not sure of spelling. Only see them in Italy. Their hard as a rock very dark and round.
Thank you, Roseann! I’ve never heard of those.
Hi Christina,
These look delicious. Are you using canola oil? If not, what type of oil?
Thank you,
Mimi
Hi Mimi, I used to use canola oil until I discovered it is mostly all from GMO plants :( I now use grapeseed oil until I find out that will give us cancer, too! Goodness, I’m tired of what they are doing to all of our food products!
It really is so tiring. I was also wondering what oil you used, so this is good to know. :)
Isn’t it ridiculous? How are we supposed to know anything when they keep changing it and doing things to our food supply? :(
Hi. How long does dough take to rise? Thx.
Hi Lisa, the reason there is no time specified is because the answer is “it depends”. It depends mostly on the temperature of your kitchen. It should be at least a couple of hours, but if it’s cold it could take longer. Just wait until it’s doubled and then you’re good to go! Good luck! ;)
Thank you for this recipe. I am going to try this one next attempt. I used one today without the sugar in the dough. It calls for it to be added after it is fried. Your recipe is much closer to what I remember, so I am thrilled to have found it.
It was annoying to try to find a good recipe and see some posted by television cooks who failed to even post recipes using yeast. It was even more annoying to read all the ones which were improperly titled “authentic zeppole recipe.”
I am looking forward to looking at more of your recipes!
Hi Gemini,
Trust me, I feel your frustration every day that I am on the internet. One of the goals I have on my site is to try to avoid the end of authentic Italian cuisine in the US and beyond. People no longer know what Italian food really is because there is so much misinformation out there :( Call it American-“Italian” if it’s a non-authentic version of something, but nothing burns my cookies more than seeing a recipe entitled “authentic” when nothing could be further from the truth.
Thank you for your note and please let me know how they turn out! :) CC
That recipe was awful, and that makes me even more excited to try yours. The temperature suggested for the oil was even too high, so I followed your suggestion there. They cooked up beautifully, so I can’t wait to make this recipe.
My daughters are out of town this week, so I am waiting for them to get home before making them. I will let you know how it goes. I am curious if you have tried them with confectioners sugar on them? Is it simply a preference issue, or is it something else? The recipe I used called for confectioner’s sugar, but it seems as though it would have been better the way you suggest. Thank you for the reply!
Honestly, this is the way Nonna made them so we’ve just continued to make them like this (with regular sugar). They’d have to be cool to use powdered sugar, but just a preference I would assume. Much the same as a sugared doughnut and a powdered sugar covered doughnut (I prefer the normal sugar on those too)! Enjoy!
Yes, definitely made these on Christmas Eve only, but really great as an appetizer any time. Our family tradition for frittelle was a savory dough filled with anchovies (1 small can). We made these as our family gathered and prepared the other Christmas Eve dishes. A great appetizer that goes well with wine or beer. The recipe is the same except omit sugar in dough (add chopped anchovies) and do not powder with sugar after frying. This brings back so many great memories of Christmas Eve with mom and dad who both came to America from the area around Naples, Italy. Enjoy!
Re: recipe for savory frittelle by Anna Castelli Korch.
Correction – procedure for making savory frittelle is same but omit sugar, lemon, orange, raisins, and juices from recipe.
Oh goodness, I am so sorry I never responded to your comments, Anna! My dad would love your savory version with the anchovies as he’s an anchovy nut! (There’s a video of him cooking spaghetti with anchovies here on my site!) :)
Hope you try the sweet version sometime, too! They’re so delicious! CC
I am so glad to find your website. I make these every Cristmas Eve. My mothers recipe, she called them Scarpetta, she was from the Puglia
region in Italy. My children, and grandchidren call them Italian doughnuts. They dip them in honey or powdered sugar. If there are any left
we have them heated in the oven until warm and crisp with eggs for breakfast the next morning. I know they are called Zeppoli in some regions. Note: My Mother always had a saucer with oil nearby, she dipped her hand in to grab a piece of dough so that it would not stick. It works! Buon Natale!!!!
That’s lovely, Maria! Thank you for your note! Scarpetta would signify a little shoe; it’s so funny how everything has so many different names in Italy! Thanks for the oil tip, we’ll try it on Thursday! Grazie, e Buon Natale, anche a te!
Oh my. These look rather dangerous – of course we couldn’t just eat one. It’s almost as if I could smell them from here. What a lovely Christmas tradition!
Impossible to eat just one! :)