I made that!

And by sh*t I mean cheese. And by cheese I mean ricotta, as in all the leftover ricotta from 2 weeks ago. It’s been sitting in the fridge taunting me, and I had no plans for it. As usual, I made way too much. But sometimes when you need to pull a quick dessert out of thin air, leftovers like that save the day. There was a potluck that needed a dessert, and I didn’t have much time for cooking & baking. I was gazing into my fridge looking at what I already had and remembered seeing a recipe for zeppoli, or Italian ricotta fritters. I found it and realized that these guys were a cinch to make. And well, I do have an unhealthy obsession with deep frying. What can I say, it makes me happy.

I made my batter (which really just involved mixing the wet stuff, mixing the dry stuff, and then mixing them together) in like 10 minutes.

Then I dropped spoonfuls of the batter into my hot oil and fried them for 2-3 minutes.

And then I dusted them with powdered sugar!

But I was feeling the need to dip them in something sweet. So I made a quick and dirty raspberry jam sauce. Perfect!

ZEPPOLI:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup whole milk ricotta

1/4 cup milk

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons sugar

1 vanilla bean

vegetable oil for frying

powdered sugar for dusting

– Heat 2 inches oil in a heavy saucepan until it registers 360°F.

– Whisk together flour, baking powder, lemon zest, nutmeg and salt in a bowl.

– In another bowl, whisk together ricotta, eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla bean seeds, then whisk in flour mixture.

– Working in batches, drop tablespoons of batter and fry, flipping occasionally, until deep golden, about 2-3 minutes per batch.

– Transfer to paper towels to drain.

– Dust generously with confectioners sugar.

– Dip and enjoy!

RASPBERRY SAUCE

1/2 cup raspberry jam (without pectin if possible)

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1-2 teaspoons sugar (depends on sweetness of jam)

– Just stir it all together!