Bignè di San Giuseppe
Crisp, golden fried choux pastry buns filled with rich vanilla-scented Italian pastry cream and dusted with icing sugar.
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total
- 70 min
- Servings
- 6
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Calories
- 420 kcal
Equipment
- •Deep heavy saucepan
- •Sugar thermometer
- •Piping bag with star nozzle
- •Balloon whisk
- •Slotted spoon
Nutrition
Per serving, approximate
- Calories
- 420 kcal
- fat
- 23 g
- carbs
- 44 g
- fibre
- 1 g
- protein
- 9 g
- calories
- 420 kcal
Instructions
- 1
Whisk egg yolks and 120g sugar in a saucepan, then whisk in cornflour until smooth.
- 2
Warm milk with lemon zest until steaming, discard zest, and slowly pour into yolk mixture while whisking.
- 3
Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until the cream thickens; transfer to a bowl, cover surface with clingfilm, and chill.
- 4
Combine water, butter, remaining 10g sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until boiling.
- 5
Add all plain flour at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon over low heat.
- 6
Cook and stir for two minutes until the dough forms a smooth ball and pulls away from the pan sides.
- 7
Let dough cool for five minutes, then beat in whole eggs one at a time until glossy and pliable.
- 8
Heat sunflower oil in a deep pan to 170 degrees C.
- 9
Drop rounded tablespoons of dough into hot oil and fry gently for eight to ten minutes until puffed and deep golden.
- 10
Remove fried buns with a slotted spoon, drain thoroughly on kitchen paper, and let them cool completely.
- 11
Fill a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle with chilled cream and pipe generously into each bun.
- 12
Dust the filled buns with icing sugar just before serving.
Chef's tips
Maintain the frying oil temperature strictly between 165 and 170 degrees C; if the oil is too hot, the bignè will brown quickly on the outside while remaining wet and raw inside. Ensure the pastry cream is thoroughly chilled before piping so it holds its shape inside the warm buns.
Ingredient substitutions
- sunflower oil → peanut oil for an equally clean, high-smoke-point fry
- lemon zest → one vanilla pod, split and infused into the warm milk
Storage
Store unfilled fried buns in an airtight container for up to one day; consume filled pastries within four hours for best texture.
Reheating
These pastries should not be reheated once filled with pastry cream.
Common mistakes to avoid
- •Frying at too high a temperature, which prevents the choux dough from expanding fully into hollow shells.
- •Adding eggs to the choux dough while it is boiling hot, which scrambles the eggs.
- •Piping pastry cream into warm bignè, causing the filling to melt and turn runny.
Serving suggestions
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