Put water, sugar, salt and butter into a pan and bring to a boil on medium heat.
As the butter gets melted take it off the heat and mix in the flour in one go, beat until it forms a smooth dough.
Place the pan back over medium heat and mix vigorously with a wooden spoon for 2-3 minutes to get rid of the excess moisture.
Once done transfer to a bowl and mix for a couple of minutes so it cools down a bit. Then incorporate the eggs one by one, mixing very well after each addition. Now, this part is quite tiring so I strongly recommend that you use an electric mixer for this step or better yet the kitchenaid if you have one.
Mix in the lemon zest and once you have a smooth and elastic batter you can start frying.
Heat the oil to 170 C (340 F) and using a tea spoon drop little balls of the batter in the pan. Fry for 3-4 mins turning them with a fork to make sure they get cooked nicely all over. Transfer to a tray covered with paper towel.
You can enjoy them just rolled in plenty of caster sugar or a generous sprinkle of icing sugar.
Notes
The ideal temperature of the oil is 170 C (340 F), if it starts to smoke it means that it's too hot. So remove from the heat for a few minutes to cool it down otherwise the batter will get dark too quickly and will remain uncooked in the middle.
Recipe by HatiBon English at https://www.hatibon.com/blog/2016/02/tortelli-di-carnevale-carnival-fritters-vol-iii-2/