St. Joseph Day Recipe

Today, March 19, is the feast of St. Joseph in the Catholic Church. St. Joseph is the patron saint of workers.

Since as far back as I can remember, we celebrated this day with specially made donuts that my dad or my Aunt Jo would make. Served drenched in honey or sprinkled with powdered sugar, they’d be waiting on the table for us when we got home from school. I still remember the year we returned home to find the donuts on the table, my dad looking very sad and my mother nowhere to be found. My grandfather, my mom’s father, had died that morning. In retrospect, it was an appropriate day for PapPap to meet his maker since he was a very hard working man, a coal miner before there was a Union, who had escaped from Communist controlled Croatia to find a better life. He’d raised 6 children during the Great Depression and ended up with Black Lung disease. I loved my PapPap.

The recipe for St. Joseph Day donuts comes from my dad’s family. I realize now that Italians, or at least the ones I call family, love to celebrate holidays. We tend to celebrate a few more holidays than most other people and always with special food. If anyone else celebrates this feast day (or any other, really) please comment and let me know. And if you try our family recipe for St. Joseph Day donuts, let me know that, too.

St. Joseph Day Donuts
March 19

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
• 2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups oil for frying

Beat eggs well in water. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture. This should be the consistency of pancake batter. Cover and allow to rise in warm place for about 30 minutes. Heat oil. Drop by Tablespoon, 2 at a time, into oil. Fry until golden. Coat with honey or dust with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

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