Cannoli with Ricotta Filling
Crisp, bubbly golden pastry tubes filled with velvety sweet ricotta cream and citrus zest. A classic staple of Melbourne's beloved Italian pasticcerie.
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 65 min
- Servings
- 6
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Calories
- 340 kcal
Equipment
- •Deep frypan or heavy saucepan
- •Metal cannoli tubes
- •Piping bag
- •Rolling pin
- •Slotted spoon
Nutrition
Per serving, approximate
- Calories
- 340 kcal
- fat
- 18 g
- carbs
- 36 g
- fibre
- 2 g
- protein
- 8 g
- calories
- 340 kcal
Instructions
- 1
Combine the plain flour and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl.
- 2
Rub in the chilled butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- 3
Add the Marsala wine, vinegar, and half the beaten egg to form a firm dough.
- 4
Knead the dough on a lightly floured bench for five minutes until smooth, then rest for thirty minutes.
- 5
Roll out the dough thinly until it is roughly one millimetre thick.
- 6
Cut out ten-centimetre circles, wrap each loosely around a metal tube, and seal edges with leftover beaten egg.
- 7
Heat the vegetable oil in a deep frypan to 180 degrees C.
- 8
Fry the pastry tubes in batches for two minutes until deeply golden and blistered, then remove with a slotted spoon.
- 9
Carefully slide the metal tubes out while warm and allow the pastry shells to cool completely.
- 10
Beat the strained ricotta, icing sugar, and orange zest together until smooth, then fold through the chopped chocolate.
- 11
Transfer the ricotta mixture into a piping bag and pipe generously into both ends of each cooled shell.
- 12
Dip the exposed ricotta ends into crushed pistachios and dust the shells with icing sugar to serve.
Chef's tips
Drain your ricotta in a sieve lined with cheesecloth overnight in the fridge to ensure a thick filling. Always fill the cannoli shells shortly before eating so the pastry stays crisp.
Ingredient substitutions
- Marsala wine → dry white wine mixed with 1 tsp brandy
- crushed pistachios → finely diced candied orange peel
Storage
Store unfilled fried shells in an airtight container for up to one week at room temperature.
Reheating
Do not reheat filled cannoli; always pipe fresh chilled ricotta filling into room-temperature shells just before serving.
Common mistakes to avoid
- •Using wet ricotta, which turns the filling runny and quickly softens the crisp shell.
- •Rolling the dough too thick, resulting in hard pastry without delicate blisters.
- •Filling the shells hours in advance, causing them to lose their crunch.
Serving suggestions
Cooked Cannoli with Ricotta Filling?
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