Sfinci di San Giuseppe are a speciality of Palermo, Sicily and are generally referred to as Sicilian Doughnuts. Traditionally, they would have been made on the 19th March - which is the holy day of San' Giuseppe (St Joseph) but now they are served all year round and are a popular Christmas treat. Most of the recipes I've seen involve yeast so I was quite intrigued by the latest edition of Italianicious where there version had no yeast whatsoever. To solve this I turned to the pages of the bible of Italian sweets, L'Italia Dei Dolci, published by Slow Food this gives you the authentic and traditional methodology for just about every classic Italian sweet you can think of. Sure enough Sfinci are in the book and surprisingly the recipe from Italianicious is on the mark. The only difference is that strutto would normally be used and this recipe uses butter. If you can make choux pastry, you'll be able to make these. Sfinci di San Giuseppe 60 grams butter 250mls/1 cup water 185 grams plain flour 3 eggs finely diced candied orange peel Put the butter and water into a pan and place on a medium heat - bring to the boil. When boiling and the butter has melted, remove from the heat and add the flour, stir quickly until the mixture forms a ball and then place back on a low heat. Cook for a minute - stirring constantly. Place the mixture into a bowl and allow to cool. When cool add the eggs one at a time, making sure they are well incorporated before adding the next. Finally stir through the diced candied orange peel. They are now ready to cook or you could cook them later - make sure you cover the mixture with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready to use. People that have an aversion to deep frying won't like the next bit but these must be deep fried. The dough expands quite a bit during frying so you'll only need to use about a tablespoon of dough for each doughnut. I use a very small ice-cream scoop to help deliver the correct portion of dough. As they cook, they will expand in stages, so it's important not to overcrowd your pan. When golden and cooked through, place them on paper towels to drain and then toss them when still warm through caster sugar. The Sfinci have a surprising light texture, the interior isn't doughy at all, it's actually aerated. For an authentic presentation you would serve them topped with a mixture of ricotta, candied fruit and chocolate chips - this would then be garnished with strips of candied orange, pistachio slivers and a dusting of icing sugar. I've gone for a different approach and served them with strawberry curd. However you make them, you're going to find yourself having to make a lot more!