Bignè di San Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Day Baked Cream Puffs) are delicious, baked, big cream puffs, filled with lemon custard, and typically made for Italian Father's Day.
If it happens you are in Italy, and more specifically in the area of Rome, in February/March, you will see all the bakeries, cafés, grocery stores and pastry shops, starting to fill their glass cases with a pastry called Bignè di San Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Day Cream Puffs), both in the fried and baked version. They are getting ready to celebrate Festa del Papà, Father's Day, which in Italy is on this very day, March 19th, and that on our calendar is also San Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Day).
The holiday is deeply connected to a Catholic tradition. For those of you not familiar, St. Joseph is Jesus's father and thus made the symbol of all fathers, plus Joseph is also the Patron Saint of friars and pastry makers, so it's no coincidence that on Father's Day, in Italy, pastry shops show off their most delectable pastries. Father's Day is always celebrated on this day even if it falls on a weekday, and I remember, year after year, with my family, eating these pastries: Bignè di San Giuseppe and Zeppole (which are typical Neapolitan, the batter is piped into a ring shape, filled with pastry cream, and topped with amarena cherries). My mother has often made fried bignè, which is more luscious, but we've also eaten the store-bought ones, equally delicious.
This year I wanted to celebrate with my father, being that I am in Rome (and that doesn't happen too often lately), baking my own Bignè di San Giuseppe. I love (I know I shouldn't) deep-fried everything, but I dislike frying, and that was the main reason why I opted for the baked version (the health factor coming just second).
So yesterday, I set myself in motion: work in the morning, smooth train ride, and at 4 p.m. I was home. From there I raced against the clock to get everything done and take the pictures before it got dark (here we haven't changed the clock, yet). I made it in time, but phew!, what a rush 😉 . Hope you take your time to make them, they deserve that, maybe start in the morning, have few breaks, and possibly use a stand mixer. I beat the batter by hand and let me tell you, I had my workout. Dad, this is my gift to you!
Let's start making bignè
The batter of the baked bignè is the french-style pate à choux (choux pastry): butter, bit of sugar and salt, water, eggs. It can be a little touchy, the care is to let the butter/water/salt/sugar/flour mixture cool down before incorporating the room-temperature eggs one at a time. Each egg has to be fully blended in the batter before adding the next one and that requires a lot of arm and hand effort if you, like me, don't own a stand mixer and use instead a whisk and a wooden spoon.
The batter is then piped into some kind of a ring shape, overlapped and closed at the top, baked, then filled with crema (custard), and sprinkled with icing sugar. The baking process is the other delicate part: they have to bake at the right temperature and for the right amount of time so as not to deflate once out of the oven. Secondly, the interior of the choux pastry has to be completely dry and to ensure that, once they're fully cooked, you can poke the bottom with a toothpick and leave them to dry in the oven, turned off and with the door slightly opened. I was so anxious to get everything done that I opened the oven door too soon and so my first batch flattened miserably. For the second batch I was more tired but also more alert and the puffs turned out just beautiful.
While the first batch of pastries was in the oven, I made the custard, using my mother's recipe. I used 3 eggs, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons of flour, 3 glasses of milk and the rindof half an organic lemon. I love the fragrant scent and flavor of the citrus in the custard!
Once the bignè were stuffed with the custard and sprinkled with icing sugar, I took the shots then started the clean up. I had an enormous amount of pots, pans, cutlery, utensils, including the cloth sac-à-poche (that I had to use for both piping and filling the pastries and so wash twice). Why did I buy a cloth pastry bag I have no idea!
In the end, I was fatigued by the long day, but happy with the result and more happy at the thought that my father and my family will enjoy them. The puffs: light, delicate, fragrant (I added a grating of lemon zest in the batter); the custard: lush, velvety, citrusy, perfect counterpart to the pastry.
Thank you dad for everything you do for us and for still spoiling your "little girl", me, who isn't that little anymore. And thank you for being the more rational, calmer, and more relaxed of the bunch, while mom and I are always the worrywarts and anxious ones.
Bignè di San Giuseppe al Forno (St. Josph's Day Baked Cream Puffs)
Delicious, baked, big cream puffs, these Bignè filled with lemon custard are the typical sweets for Italian Father's Day.
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 12-15 cream puffs 1x
Ingredients
Bignè (Puffs):
- 4 organic free range eggs
- 80 g butter, cubed
- 200 ml water
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 120 g unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 tsp grated lemon zest (optional)
Custard:
- 3 large organic egg yolks
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 3 Tbsp unbleached all purpose flour
- 3 glasses of milk (about 400 ml)
- rind of ½ an organic lemon
Instructions
Choux pastry:
- Preheat the convection oven to 190°.
- In a thick-bottomed saucepan, put the cubed butter and pour the water, add the pinch of salt and teaspoon of sugar and bring slowly to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon. Once the butter has melted and the water is boiling, remove the pan from the heat and pour inside the sifted flour. Return the saucepan on the stove and stir the ingredients with a whisk first and then continue stirring with a wooden spoon until you get a ball shaped dough. You have to keep stirring the mixture until you see a white film form at the bottom of the saucepan (it can take 5-10 minutes).
- Pour the mixture into a bowl and let it cool. Once lukewarm, add eggs, one at a time, adding the following only when the previous one has been completely absorbed (you can use a wooden spoon, a handheld mixer, or better yet, a stand mixer). You want to obtain a smooth and homogeneous batter.
- Transfer the batter into a sac-à-poche (piping or pastry bag) with star nozzle and squeeze it onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, forming circles of medium size on which you will pass twice overlapping each other and closing at the top of the choux pastry. You will get about 12-15 cream puffs: you will need two baking trays because they need space so that they don't stick to one another while cooking.
- Cook the cream puffs in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. When you see they are puffy and a beautiful golden color, turn off the oven, poke little holes at the base with a toothpick and put them back in the oven ajar for 10 minutes to let them dry inside.
- After this time, remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
Custard:
- Heat the milk in a saucepan with the lemon rind; beat the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl, then add the flour. Pour the heated milk mixture slowly, mixing with a whisk. Put back the mixture on the stove and stir constantly until the custard has thickened.
- Transfer the custard to a bowl and let it cool with a plastic wrap on top to keep it from drying out.
- Put the custard in a sac-à-poche with small nozzle and fill the puffs.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy.
Notes
The cream puffs will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for a couple days (but they will soften a bit). You can also store just the puffs, once they're cooled off, for 3-4 days in a tin box, or freeze them and once thawed fill them with the custard.
- Category: Sweets
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Ricetta in Italiano:
PrintBignè di San Giuseppe al Forno
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 bignè medi 1x
Ingredients
Bignè:
- 4 uova, organiche da allevamento a terra
- 80 g burro
- 200 ml acqua
- 1 pizzico di sale
- 120 g farina 00
- 1 cucchiaino di zucchero
- 1 cucchiaino di scorza di limone grattugiata
Crema al limone:
- 3 tuorli
- 3 cucchiai di zucchero
- 3 cucchiai farina (o fecola)
- 3 bicchieri di latte
- 1 scorza di limone
Instructions
- Preriscaldate il forno ventilato a 190°.
- Preparate la pasta choux che sarà l'impasto base dei bignè: in un pentolino dal fondo spesso mettete il burro a pezzetti e versate l'acqua, unite il sale e un cucchiaino di zucchero e portate lentamente ad ebollizione, rimestando con un cucchiaio di legno. Non appena il burro sarà sciolto e l’acqua bollirà, togliete il pentolino dal fuoco e versate al suo interno la farina setacciata. Riportate il pentolino sul fuoco e amalgamate gli ingredienti con una frusta all'inizio e poi continuate a mescolare con un cucchiaio di legno per ottenere una palla compatta. Girate il composto fino a quando vedrete formarsi una patina biancastra sul fondo del pentolino (tra i 5 e i 10 minuti circa).
- Versate l’impasto in una ciotola e lasciatelo intiepidire. Una volta tiepido, unite le uova, una alla volta, aggiungendo la seguente solo quando la precedente sarà stata completamente assorbita (oltre che con un mestolo di legno, potete compiere questa operazione servendovi delle fruste di uno sbattitore a mano o la foglia di una planetaria). Alla fine dovrete ottenere un composto liscio e omogeneo.
- Trasferite il composto ottenuto in una sac-à-poche con bocchetta stellata e spremetelo su una teglia foderata con carta da forno, formando dei cerchi di misura media sui quali passerete due volte accavallando e chiudendo in cima la pasta choux. Otterrete circa 12-15 bignè: vi serviranno due teglie perché i bignè devono essere distanziati tra loro in modo che, durante la cottura, gonfiandosi, non si attacchino.
- Cuocete i bignè in forno ventilato preriscaldato per 25-30 minuti. Quando risulteranno gonfi e belli dorati in superficie, spegnete il forno, bucherellateli alla base con uno stuzzicadenti e rimetteteli in forno spento socchiuso per 10 minuti per farli asciugare dentro.
- Trascorso questo tempo, estraeteli dal forno e lasciateli raffreddare su di una gratella.
- Ora preparate la crema: riscaldate il latte in un pentolino con la scorza di limone; sbattete in una ciotola, con la frusta, i tuorli e lo zucchero quindi aggiungete la farina. Versate il latte riscaldato sul composto a filo, amalgamando con la frusta. Riportate il composto sul fuoco e mescolate continuamente fino a che la crema non si sarà addensata.
- Trasferite la crema in una ciotola e fatela raffreddare con un foglio di pellicola a contatto per non farla seccare.
- Farciteli i bignè con la crema, che avrete trasferito in una sac-à-poche con bocchetta piccola.
- A piacere cospargeteli con zucchero a velo.
Notes
Conservate i bignè alla crema in frigorifero, coperti, per 2-3 giorni.
Potete conservare i bignè non farciti e completamente raffreddati per 3-4 giorni in una scatola di latta, oppure potete congelarli e una volta scongelati farcirli all'occorrenza.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
I love baking and kneading dough because it takes me to a happy place in my soul.
Dahn says
Oh, I know what you mean about deep frying. I love eating fried food but hate making it. I think these are better baked anyway, you won't feel like a rock is sitting in your belly if you eat an extra one 🙂
You're right, these cream puffs are actually better baked, so you can even indulge in having two 😉 . Thank you for stopping by!
demeter | beaming baker says
Hi Nicoletta & Loretto! I must say, these baked cream puffs are absolutely gorgeous. Nicoletta, I hope that you had a wonderful time celebrating Italy's Father's Day with your father. 🙂 Although, I must say, I can't imagine him not having a wonderful time with a big plate of these cream puffs. You're a great daughter for rushing home and making this batter by hand! The baking life is just a bit (okay, maybe a LOT... haha) harder without the great luxury of a stand mixer. P.S. The pictures turned out beautifully! Next time, I hope you have more time so you don't have to rush. Rushing is my least favorite part of baking. Have a wonderful weekend you two!
Thank you Demeter for your nice comment! We had a nice time and the cream puffs are all gone, even the flat ones 😉 . I know, rushing and baking are not good together. Have a beautiful sunday!
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop says
These are so beautiful! I've never made cream puffs....I need to change that and get baking!
Thank you Kathy, so much! Cream puffs are quite lengthy but worth the while 🙂 .
Sarah says
These. look. so. dreamy. Ahhhh!
Thanks a lot! My father and family were quite happy with them, (12 cream puffs) gone in a day 🙂 .
karrie @ Tasty Ever After says
Love that you were in Rome with your family to make these 🙂 My Hubby saw the photo of these and said "Can you make those?" So guess I'll be making them this week too 😉
Thank you Karrie! I am having a nice time, enjoying my parents a lot. In a month I'll be going back to Edmonton , so I am treasuring every moment. You can't say No to hubby, you got to make them 😉 . Hope you like them and find the recipe and tips easy to follow.
Kamran says
Nicoletta, these cream puffs look absolutely ethereal! One of my best friends in middle school got me hooked on fried bignè (so bad for you, but so delicious!); it's so nice seeing your baked recipe for them. They look absolutely stunning!
You're right, fried bignè are addictive, sooo delicious! I was so close to frying them... 😉 . So glad you stopped by, Kamran, and left you're comment. So appreciated. Thank you!
Jackie @ supermancooks says
Nicoletta these are amazing!!! I have never had these, but now I am dying to try them! I love the history behind them and particularly the idea that you made them with love for your papa... isn't that what life is all about? Beautiful!!!
Thank you so much, Jackie, for your kind words. So glad you stopped by! They are really delicious! Here you can still find them in the pastry shops and cafés, but are slowly dying down and being replaced by Easter sweets. And, yes, that's what life is all about!
Raquel @ My California Roots says
These look so fantastic, Nicoletta! I haven't attempted many pastries in my home, but since these look so good baked I might have to give them a try. And that custard with the lemon sounds fantastic! I bet your dad loved these - so special that you made them for him 🙂
You are so sweet, Raquel, thank you! My dad loved them, and was really happy I baked them for him. I'm sure you would like them. The pastry is light and the filling is heavenly 🙂 .