Speaking of Ricotta cheese, I make "fake" pancakes by mixing a couple of eggs and a couple of scoops of the cheese. Fry it in the skillet like pancakes, top with butter and sugar free syrup--almost zero carbs and delicious.
Some people add cinnamon or sugar substitute and skip the syrup.

Also speaking of Zeppole I haven’t found one yet in this area of Florida. There’s a lot to be said about nice weather but can’t beat the food up north, especially the Italian variety.

It is more like a choux pastry, perhaps a little heavier ...
In the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, southern Connecticut area it is either baked or fried (mostly fried, which I prefer), then filled with a sweetened ricotta cheese filing ... In Rhode Island, however, they are mostly baked and more often filled with a custard type filling - to ME, they are not nearly as good as the ricotta cheese ...

Wow, that sounds delicious. Is it something along the lines of a cannoli , taste wise, daughter in law brought some up a few years ago.

We don’t get any continental type baking in the country areas.

I prefer fried stuff also. Over here , homemade jam donuts for instance, they suggest baking for at home ( healthier) haha, nowhere near as nice as fried, so I don’t bother.

Off to check some recipes. Haha