In Coppola’s GREAT film The Godfather, this is the instruction given by Peter Clemenza to Lampone after a murder on a deserted road. Cannoli was further immortalised in The Sopranos during one of Tony’s dreams where Dr. Melfi says, “Tony, I love your cannoli”. Saucy!
Hailing from Sicily, cannoli is one of my favourite pastry sweets. I love it so much that I will go through the hours of preparation to have one! If you’re a cannoli purist, look away now: I use marscarpone, not ricotta. Ricotta does nothing for me, marscarpone is an equally good variant to use.
I’m not sure where I acquired this recipe from, I’ve used it for about four years and it never fails. It’s time consuming but as in all love affairs with food, the end result is worth it. This recipe makes about 15 cannoli tubes which can be stored in an air tight container for up to two months.
Items you will need
- Cannoli tubes are essential (I use these – they have a good spring to allow you to pinch the tube and easily slide the cannoli shell off after cooking)
- Pasta machine
- 3.5 – 5 inch diameter pastry cutter
- Pastry brush (if you haven’t already, get silicone!)
Ingredients: shells
- 190g white flour
- 25 white sugar
- 3g ground cinnamon
- 20g butter (or shortening)
- 1/2 egg
- 1/2 egg yolk
- 60ml sweet Marsala wine
- 8ml distilled white vinegar
- 30ml water
- 1/2 egg white
- 470ml oil for frying
Ingredients: filling*
*this will fill about four cannoli, so adjust accordingly to how many you plan to eat. And DON’T fill the cannoli in advance of eating as this results in the pasty becoming damp and you will lose the lovely crunch of the shell.
- 250g full fat marscarpone
- 3 tsps icing sugar (adjust the sweetness to suit you, anything more for me is too sweet and ruins the taste of the marscarpone)
- Chocolate pieces (cut up small, I use 65% dark)
- Ground pistachios for the edges
Now, prepare yourself for a few hours of preparation and fun!
- In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Cut the butter into the bowl (no bigger than pea size). Make a well in the centre and pour in the egg, egg yolk, Marsala wine, vinegar and water.
2. Mix with a fork until the dough becomes stiff, then finish off by hand, kneading for about ten minutes on a clean surface. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
3. Divide the cannoli dough into thirds and flatten each one just enough to get through the pasta machine. Roll the dough through the setting until you get to the machine’s thinnest setting. (Dust with flour if it’s sticking) Place the sheet of dough on a lightly floured surface and use the pastry cutter to cut out circles. Dust the circles with a light coating of flour and roll the pastry around the cannoli tubes, sealing the edge with a bit of egg white.
4. Heat the oil to 190 degrees C. Fry the shells on the tubes a few at a time for 2 to 3 minutes until golden. Use tongs to turn the shells if needed. Carefully remove the shells from the tubes and place on a cooling rack over paper towels.
Mix up the filling. You can of course use whatever filling you like, if you don’t mind ricotta then that’s the more traditional filling. Candied fruits are quite popular decoration, I LOVE pistachio so I prefer to have that on edges of the filled shells.
Creamy, chocolate goodness!
And enjoy!
Tash
tashlovesfood 