Cannoli Siciliani
Crisp, blistered fried pastry cylinders filled to order with sweet sheep's milk ricotta cream, dark chocolate chips, and candied orange peel.
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 65 min
- Servings
- 8
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Calories
- 380 kcal
Equipment
- •Metal cannoli tubes
- •Deep-frying pan
- •Pasta machine or rolling pin
- •Piping bag
- •Fine mesh sieve
Nutrition
Per serving, approximate
- Calories
- 380 kcal
- fat
- 20 g
- carbs
- 42 g
- fibre
- 2 g
- protein
- 9 g
- calories
- 380 kcal
Instructions
- 1
Combine the flour, caster sugar, cocoa powder, lard, Marsala, and vinegar in a mixing bowl.
- 2
Knead the mixture vigorously for ten minutes until a smooth, firm dough forms.
- 3
Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and rest at room temperature for one hour.
- 4
Pass the drained sheep's ricotta through a fine sieve into a clean bowl.
- 5
Gently fold the icing sugar and cinnamon into the sieved ricotta until smooth and glossy.
- 6
Stir the chocolate chips into the ricotta cream, cover, and chill in the fridge.
- 7
Roll the rested dough very thinly to one millimetre thickness using a pasta roller.
- 8
Cut into ten-centimetre ovals and wrap loosely around metal cannoli tubes.
- 9
Brush a touch of egg white on the overlapping pastry edge and press to seal firmly.
- 10
Heat peanut oil to 175 degrees C in a deep pan.
- 11
Fry the shells in batches for two minutes until crisp, golden brown, and covered with blisters.
- 12
Drain on kitchen paper, slide off tubes once warm, and pipe ricotta filling immediately before serving.
Chef's tips
Drain the sheep's ricotta thoroughly overnight so the cream remains thick and stable. Always pipe the ricotta filling at the very last moment before serving so the shells stay perfectly crisp.
Ingredient substitutions
- strutto (pork lard) → unsalted butter, though the crust will have slightly fewer pastry blisters
- sheep's milk ricotta → well-drained cow's milk ricotta, though the traditional rich tang will be milder
Storage
Store unfilled fried shells in an airtight container at room temperature for five days, and store ricotta filling separately in the fridge for two days.
Reheating
Do not reheat filled cannoli; empty fried shells can be refreshed in an oven at 150 degrees C for three minutes if softened by ambient humidity.
Common mistakes to avoid
- •Filling the cannoli shells ahead of time, which causes the crisp pastry to go soggy rapidly.
- •Using wet, undrained ricotta, which makes the cream runny and unstable.
- •Rolling the pastry dough too thickly, resulting in tough and heavy shells rather than light, blistered pastry.
Serving suggestions
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