Sfinge for the Feast of St. Joseph

March 19 was the Solemnity of St. Joseph. To celebrate, I made sfinge, a traditional dessert for the occasion. I used the recipe found here, with no significant alterations (except I used ricotta instead of cottage cheese). They're amazing, and they look much more difficult to make than they actually are. They froze very well--I popped the whole finished product (minus cherries) into the freezer on a plate covered with plastic wrap, and a few days later they thawed at room temperature and tasted as good as they did freshly made.

• 1 cup water
• 1/4 pound butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sifted flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel Filling

Boil water and butter. Add flour and salt. Keep stirring until mixture leaves side of pan or forms a ball in the center. Cool. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add sugar and grated peel. Drop tablespoonfuls of dough every three inches on a greased cookie sheet, or fill muffin tins half full. Bake in a hot oven (400°) for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°, and continue baking until light brown (10-12 more minutes). Remove from oven. Open puff in the center of top to let steam escape. Cool and fill with:

• 1 pound cottage ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons grated chocolate
• 1 tablespoon grated orange rind
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 3 tablespoons milk
• Sugar to taste
• 18 maraschino cherries

Mix cottage cheese with chocolate and orange rind. Add flavoring, milk and sugar to taste. Beat until smooth and custard-like. Fill puffs. Chill until ready to use. Before serving, top with cherry and orange peel.

This recipe makes about 18 cream puffs.