Sicilian Cannoli
Sicilian Cannoli
Duration: 1 h 30 min
Difficulty: Challenging
Origin: Sicily
Cannoli are a typical Sicilian dessert. There is no Italian who does not know this delicious crunchy cannoli filled with a mixture of ricotta, sugar and depending on the variations we can also find candied orange, sometimes chocolate, or chopped pistachio. River reeds were originally used to give shape to this sweet, from which it takes its name. Today a metal cylinder is used. Of probable Saracen origin, cannoli were prepared during the Carnival period to celebrate the richness, colors and abundance of a land rich in traditions and resources such as Sicily. Today it is now known all over the world and is also prepared outside of Sicily and the versions in which it is offered are numerous (not all of them good…. ;))
Ingredients
For 4 people:
Ingredients for the filling:
- 500 g of Ricotta
- 80 g of dark chocolate
- 150 g of icing sugar
- 100 g of candied orange and citron peels
- 80 g of pistachios
Ingredients for cannoli:
- 300 g of flour
- 1 Egg
- Powdered coffee to taste
- 2 g of Butter
- ½ glass of Marsala
- Fry oil
- salt
Necessary material
Molds for cannoli
How to proceed
Prepare a pastry board and pour the flour into the center forming a fountain. Pour the yolk of an egg into the center (discard the egg white). Then add a teaspoon of coffee, one of sugar and a knob of melted butter. Finally a pinch of salt. Start kneading everything using half a glass of Marsala to soften the dough. Mix and knead with your hands until you obtain a mixture with a firm and elastic consistency.
Form the dough into a ball, place it in a bowl and cover it with a cloth. Let the dough rest for about 1 hour.
In the meantime, let’s start preparing the filling. Take a large bowl and collect the ricotta passed through a sieve. Then add the icing sugar, the candied fruit cut into small pieces and the chocolate chips or flakes. Mix by mixing the ingredients well. Finally, place the bowl in the fridge to rest.
Once the hour has passed, take the ball of dough out of the bowl and place it on the pastry board. Roll out a sheet of dough with a rolling pin forming a thin layer. Cut the pastry into circles of about 10 cm in diameter. You can use a pastry cutter for cutting or a non-toothed wheel.
Take the appropriate metal cylinders for the cannoli and wrap the circles of puff pastry around them. Metal cylinders must be greased with oil before using them with pasta.
Take a pan suitable for frying and fill it with frying oil. Bring the oil to the right temperature and fry the cannoli one after the other. When they have taken on a nice golden-brown colour, remove them from the frying and, after having drained them, place them to dry on a sheet of absorbent kitchen paper. Let them cool.
When the cannoli are lukewarm, remove the metal cylinder remaining inside the cannoli. Then take one cannoli at a time and fill it with ricotta and candied fruit.
If you want, garnish the cannoli with a candied black cherry, or chopped pistachio or candied orange peel. Finally, cover the cannoli with icing sugar.
The cannoli should be served at room temperature (not in the fridge).