Cannoli Cooking Recipe, Ingredients, Cooking Method
Makes 10 cannoli
Preparation time: 1 hour
Resting time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 ¼ cups (4 oz./125 g) cake flour
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ⅔ oz. (20 g) lard
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sweet wine (maraschino, Marsala, muscat, vermouth, etc.)
- 1 pinch of cinnamon powder
- Salt
- Sufficient quantity of lard for deep frying
- 1 egg white
Ricotta cream
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 cup (9 oz./250 g) ricotta
- ⅓ cup (2 ½ oz./75 g) sugar
- 2 heaping tablespoons (1 oz./25 g) chocolate chips
- Salt
- 1 tablespoon powdered pistachio
- Small piece of candied orange peel
- Confectioners’ sugar for decoration
Equipment
- 10 cannoli cylinders
- 1 pastry bag
- 1 plain (smooth) pastry tip
Cooking Method
Prepare the cannoli shells.
- Mix all the dough ingredients together well to obtain a smooth dough.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Separate the dough into ten small balls.
- Roll out into oval shapes approximately 1/12 in. (2 mm) thick.
- Heat the lard for frying to 350°F/180°C.
- Wrap each oval around a cannoli cylinder, sealing the join with the egg white.
- Deep-fry until a deep golden brown.
- Drain on paper towel and, once cooled, gently pull out the cylinders from the cannoli shells.
Make the ricotta cream.
- Slit the vanilla bean in two lengthwise, scrape one half to extract the seeds.
- Sieve the ricotta, stir in the vanilla seeds, sugar, chocolate chips, and a small pinch of salt.
Assemble the cannoli.
- Fill the cannoli shells just before serving to retain their crispness.
- Slice the candied orange peel very finely.
- Using a pastry bag and plain (smooth) tip, fill the shells with ricotta cream.
- Decorate each end with the candied orange peel and powdered pistachio.
- Sprinkle the shells with confectioners’ sugar.
Suggested food/wine match
- Miceli, Moscato di Pantelleria, Tanit—Sicily DOC
Chef’s notes
If you want to fill the cannoli in advance, brush the inside of the shells with dark melted chocolate once they have cooled down. This will prevent contact with the ricotta cream and keep them crisp. You can keep the shells (cooked and unfilled) for a few days in an airtight container or in the freezer.
To save time, you can buy the cannoli shells ready-made, as they are becoming more and more widely available.