Celebrate St. Joseph’s Day With Specialty Pastries From The Bronx’s Little Italy Bakeries

18.03.2024 - 17:07 / forbes.com

Falling on March 19th, St. Joseph’s Day honors this patron saint of fathers and carpenters who is recognized in Catholic and Christian observant destinations, including in Italy, with religious services and culinary offerings.

As an Italian food tradition, this feast day is celebrated with special pastries called Zeppole di San Giuseppe and Sfingi di San Giuseppe.

At first, these St. Joseph’s Day specialties might look the same but they have some differences with preparation and taste.

Zeppole di San Giuseppe are made with choux pastry and both filled and topped with a pastry crème. They are also garnished with amarena cherries and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Sfingi di San Giuseppe has some slight opposites, in that they are filled with sweetened ricotta cream and garnished with crushed pistachios and candied citrus.

These pastries are commonly found in traditional Italian bakeries. If you’re near to New York City, the Bronx’s Little Italy makes for a great shopping or foodie trip. Set within the Belmont neighborhood, Bronx’s Little Italy has many bakeries noted for their St. Joseph’s Day pastries and other Italian delectables. They include:

This multigenerational bakery was opened by Vincent Artuso in 1946. Many of the bakery’s recipes passed down many of their recipes through each generation, adapting them through modern revisions to meet with lfood trends and community needs.

Artuso Pastry Shop carries zeppole and sfingi, which are available now until St. Joseph’s Day. The zeppole is filled and topped with vanilla custard cream and amarena cherries, while the sfingi is filled and topped with rich cannoli cream and adorned with candied citrus fruit, a glazed cherry, and sprinkles.

As another family owned & operated shop, Delillo Pastry Shop has been a fixture of the Arthur Avenue food scene since 1925. Delillo produces fresh batches of its trademark cannolis, rainbow cookies, lobster tails, sfogliatelle and biscotti daily. In the summer months, guests can pull up a chair at the shop’s outdoor patio and cool down with some Italian ice.

In honor of St. Joseph, Delillo carries sfingi and zeppole. Sfingi feature cannoli cream, topped with a glazed cherry and candied orange. The zeppole features custard with glazed cherries.

Egidio Pastry Shop is the oldest pastry shop on Arthur Avenue, a mainstay here since 1912. It’s said that the shop’s recipes for their sfingi and St. Joseph zeppole have remained unchanged.

Their sfingi features ricotta cream, bergamot orange and a glazed cherry. The St. Joseph zeppole features custard cream and an amarena cherry.

The shop’s current owner is Maria Carmela Lucciola, who has been running the business for more than 40 years. Although Carmela is not a descendent of