Month: June 2013

Need I say more?

This is an in depth recipe that does take up to 2 hours to make so I’m not going to ramble on about my life and how awesome cannoli’s are. All you need to know is I basically woke up yesterday morning craving a cannoli. Instead of going to the nearest bakery or Italian restaurant and purchasing what was probably already 3 days if not older and made from a factory somewhere..I put myself to the challenge of making them at home. As long as you have all the proper equipment and tools, these are really easy to make. It’s worth it in the end!

 

Sadly this recipe isn’t Gluten Free/Vegan/Dairy free… but if you want to take the time to prepare a recipe that is and share it with me that would be amazing!

Yield: 24 Delicious cannolis!

Mise En Place:

Shells:

-2 Cups AP Flour

-1 Table spoon Granulated Sugar

-1/4 Teaspoon Salt

-1 Tablespoon plus 2 Teaspoons Unsalted Butter, Cut into small pieces

-1 Egg Yolk

-1/2 White Wine

-1 4 oz Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate bar, melted over a double boiler (optional)

 

Filling:

-3 Cups Whole milk Ricotta Cheese

-3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar

-1/4 Teaspoon Allspice

-1 Lime, Zested

-2 Oranges, Zested

-1 Teaspoon Vanilla

 

Additional Tools:

-Deep Fryer (Or a deep pot to fill with oil to fry shells)

-1 Quart canola oil, for frying

-Flour for rolling

-1 Egg, lightly beaten for egg wash

-Pastry Brush

-4″ Circle cutter

-Pallet knife

-Cannoi Form

-Vegetable Spray

-Kitchen Towel

-Cookie Cooling Rack

-Rolling Pin

-Mixing Bowl

-Piping Bag

-Air-tight Containers

 

Method of Prep:

Start with making the shell dough:

-In a medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar and salt.

-Work the butter pieces into the flour with your fingers until the mixture becomes coarse and crumbly.

-Add the egg and wine and mix until it becomes a smooth dough.

-Cover with plastic wrap. Flatten the dough as much as possible in the wrap. Place in the refrigerator until filling is made.

 

For the filling:

-In a medium bowl sift powder sugar, cinnamon and allspice. Add ricotta and citrus zests. Gently fold the cream into the spices and zests. Refrigerate until ready to use.

 

To Roll and Fry the shells:

-Heat the oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

-Lightly flour a work surface and begin rolling dough as big as you can, as thin as you can (about and 1/8″ thick).

-Cut into rounds. Roll remaining dough back into a ball and roll out again until all dough is used up.

-Wrap each circle around a cannoli mold. Use a little egg wash on the top edge of each round to seal it shut.

-Use a pair of tongs to carefully submerge shell into the hot oil. Or if you’re ballsy like me, you can just drop it in the fryer with your hands facing away from you.

-Fry shell in the oil until light brown in color and crispy, approximately 3 minutes.

-Remove from the oil using tongs (or I used my pallet knife through the holes of the mold) with a kitchen towel in one hand (Careful this product is going to be very hot!) Let cool for 1 minute before removing the shell from the mold.

-Using a kitchen towel, grab the lower end of the mold with your left hand and using your right hand gently twist to release the mold and carefully slide off being sure not the break the shell. Set aside on cookie rack. Repeat with all the circles.

-If your going to dip the ends in melted chocolate, now would be the time to do so. Using a double boiler, melt chocolate until smooth and glossy. Dip one end of the shell, just a little bit. Turn upside down and dip the opposite end. Let sit on a cookie rack until chocolate hardens (I recommend that you don’t place in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate faster..this may cause your shells to become moist and stale quicker)

 

To fill the Cannolis: Just before serving, use a pastry bag without a tip to pipe the filling into the cannoli shells.

-Fill the shells from both ends so the cream runs through the whole shell.

-Feel free to dust with powder sugar or dip in crushed pistachios for extra garnishes.

-Serve immediately.