Can You Cannoli?
Posted by Danielle Bean in Food on Thursday, September 25, 2008 2:00 PM
Easy, fancy, pretty to look at, and ... seriously yummy. What’s not to love about cannoli?
I fell in love with these traditional Italian pastries back when I was in college and working part time in an Italian bakery.
I was dating Dan back then and he had advised me not to take just any part time work, but to look for a job where I could learn new skills and feed my personal interests. I took him quite literally and headed straight for the bakery.
First, a warning: Do not try to make your own cannoli shells. They do sell forms for making them
If you are lucky enough to live near an Italian bakery, go there and ask to purchase the shells. I found some at my local grocery store. If we have them in grocery stores up here in boonie New Hampshire, you have got to be able to find some near you. If all else fails, you can buy them online.
Now for the good part. What to put inside. Some people fill cannoli shells with pudding, ice cream, or whipped cream, but Gilda, the lady who owned the bakery where I worked years ago, was scandalized by the very thought. Traditional cannoli filling is sweetened ricotta cheese. Try this:
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1/2 - 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar (to taste)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Drain the ricotta cheese in cheesecloth for one hour. Using a mixer on lowest speed or by hand, beat the ricotta cheese for approximately one minute. Slowly add sugar and continue mixing. Mix in vanilla. Filling can be prepared up to 2 days ahead of time. Use a pastry bag or a plastic storage bag with one corner snipped off to fill shells. Refrigerate filling at least one hour prior to filling shells. Fill shells using either a pastry bag or spoon when ready to serve.
You can dress up the filling with chopped semisweet chocolate, a dash of cinnamon, or chopped, candied citron. You can decorate the filled cannoli with sprinkles or a dusting of powdered sugar. You can also thicken the filling, if you like, by beating in one tablespoon of cornstarch at a time until it is the desired consistency. Drippy cannoli aren’t nearly as pretty and can be a mess to eat.
Not that Daniel would mind.
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