Those Cakes We Like ... Are Taking The Cannoli

We’re off to Sicily to bake the Godfather of pastries.

Photo by Sam Ferrara on Unsplash

Welcome back to my global baking expedition. We’ve heading to Italy this month, specifically to Sicily, home of the mafia and delicious pastries. Hop on a train at any of the major train stations in Italy, and travel down to Villa San Giovanni station in Calabria, where the train is transferred onto a ferry to Messina. Stand on the deck of the ferry and watch as the island comes into view and participate in the time honoured tradition of eating arancini from the vendors on board as the ferry approaches the port.

Mark your arrival into Sicily with Arancini on the ferry. Images courtesy of Unsplash.

Now we’ve whetted our appetite, we can begin our quest for something sweeter: the deliciously sweet, cheese filled, fried pastry tubes that are Sicilian cannoli. Or, if actually making the journey to the birthplace of cannoli is not an option, we can make our own and imagine the rest. I like to imagine sitting outside a little pasticceria, watching the world go by as I eat delicious tubes of pastry, stuffed with mascarpone and ricotta. Sadly, the daydreams had to wait, I needed to actually make the cannoli first. I will tell you right now, I have a new appreciation for the upper body strength of the Italian nonna: Between making pasta and rolling cannoli dough, those ladies must be absolute units. If you want to bake this recipe, I recommend a pasta machine or the patience and endurance of a saint. You’ll also need some cannoli tubes if you want to fry them in the traditional manner. If this isn’t an option, you can make them in an air-fryer or oven, using tubes made from rolled up kitchen (aluminum) foil, which is what I did after I was unable to locate my cannoli tubes. I figured attempting to deep fry kitchen foil might do a bit more than blow the bloody doors off (all credit to Sir Michael Caine for the best delivery of that line).

A Little Slice Of History

The origins of cannoli trace back to the Saracen rule of Sicily between the 9th and 11th centuries. The Arabs contributed sugar, almonds, candied citrus, and many of the spices which are used in the traditional varieties of cannoli, while the Normans (from Normandy, France) introduced ricotta cheese. Legend has it that cannoli were first created in the Sicilian province of Caltanissetta, either by the harem of Qalc’at al-Nissa (possibly as a phallic-shaped tribute to the sultan), or by the nuns of a local convent. Whatever their origins, their phallic shape led to them becoming a staple of Carnevale, likely as a fertility symbol. They continue to be sold during Carnevale even now, with a variety of sizes available, usually between 2 and 8 inches in length. Although known the world over as cannoli, the correct term for just one is a cannolo, but who could possibly limit themselves to eating just one, right? Their name comes from the river canes (canna, meaning ‘cane’ or ‘tube’) which were originally used to form the tube shaped pastries and enabled them to hold their shape while they were fried. The cannolo/i made its way to the USA from Sicily in the 1880s, during the great Sicilian Migration, yet another example of the huge benefits of immigration. Interestingly, tradition has it that when serving cannoli to guests, there should be at least 12 cannoli on the plate (not that there will be 12 on the plate for long), and in the Neapolitan tradition of interpreting dreams using numbers, the number 34 is known as il Cannolo and is an omen of good news.

Photo by Maria Bobrova on Unsplash

There are many varieties of cannoli; some are decorated with candied citrus or chocolate chips, spiced with cinnamon, dipped in chocolate, covered with pistachio, or even filled with cream or set custard. The Sicilian migrants who brought the dish to the USA adjusted their traditional recipes to suit American tastes, and I intend to take a leaf out of their book and make my own recipes. You should feel free to do the same. I’ve opted to make 3 varieties of cannoli today: a Raspberry Cheesecake-inspired cannoli, a Cherry Bakewell variety, and a Lemon, White Chocolate, and Pistachio version (my daughter’s favourite).

For fellow members of the Dead Pancreas Society, your carbohydrates for this recipe are 187g for the entire recipe. Individual portions will depend on the diameter of the pastry discs you use to make your cannoli shells and any extra fruit, jam, or nuts added to the filling. I made 18 cannoli using a 3-inch cookie cutter and adding 2 tbsp of jam or lemon curd after splitting the dough and filling into thirds. This results in 6 cannoli of each variety at around 13g of carbs for each cannolo.

Your Equipment

For the dough:

3 mixing bowls (large one for dry ingredients, 2 small ones for egg white, and egg yolk and marsala mix)

Rolling pin or pasta machine (I recommend the pasta machine)

Cookie cutter at least 3 inches in diameter

Cannoli tubes or excessive amount of aluminum/kitchen foil

Deep fat fryer, saucepan 1/3 filled with oil, or air fryer

Pastry brush

For the filling:

Mixing bowls (one for mixing the filling, extra for melting chocolate)

Piping bag and star shaped nozzle

Fine sieve or muslin for straining the ricotta.

Your Ingredients

Just these ingredients, plus a little confectioners sugar, and maybe some crushed nuts, and you too can make cannoli.

For the pastry tubes:

100g All-purpose flour

1 tbsp Sugar (finely ground sugar is best here)

1 pinch Baking soda / Bicarbonate of soda

30 g Butter

1 large egg (separated)

50 ml Marsala wine

Vegetable oil for frying (or spray oil if using an air fryer)

100 g chocolate (I used dark, and white chocolate. You’ll only use about ½ of it as it’s for dipping the ends of the cannoli tubes into)

For the filling:

250 g Ricotta

100 g Mascarpone

2 tbsp Confectioners/Icing Sugar

Any jam, fruit, spices or nuts you wish to add (I used 2 tbs each of lemon curd, raspberry jam and sour cherry jam for the three varieties I made, plus a small handful of ground almonds, pistachios, and one crushed shortbread finger).

The Important Bit

Start your preparation the day before you intend to make your cannoli by making the filling. Begin by straining as much liquid as possible from your ricotta using a fine sieve or muslin. In a bowl, mix together your ricotta (250g), mascarpone (100g) and confectioners sugar (2 tbsp). Cover and leave in the fridge overnight to infuse.

Ricotta, mascarpone, and a little confectioners sugar is all you need for the filling. Anything else is optional.

The next day, mix your dry ingredients (150g flour, 1 tbsp sugar, pinch of baking soda) in a large mixing bowl. Cut your butter (30g) into small cubes and add to the dry mix, use your fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until they look like fine breadcrumbs.

Separate your egg and retain both the yolk and the whites. Into the yolk, add your Marsala wine (50ml) and mix well.

Pour the egg yolk-Marsala mix into the bowl with your dry ingredients and use your hands to combine them. Knead this mixture until it forms a smooth dough (at least 10 minutes).

Add your egg mix to your dry ingredients before mixing and kneading until it forms a smooth dough.

Roll out your dough using a rolling pin or pasta machine until it is thin enough to begin looking transparent (about level 6 on a pasta machine). I find the best way to do this is to break the dough into smaller portions and chill any dough not being rolled in the fridge until it is needed.

If frying, heat your oil to 350 F / 180 C, or preheat your air fryer or oven to 390 F / 200 C.

Lightly oil your cannoli tubes (if you don’t have any cannoli tubes, roll some aluminum foil into small tubes approximately as thick as your index finger). Cut out discs of pastry dough using your cookie cutter and wrap them around your cannoli tube until they overlap. Seal the cannoli where the edges overlap using a little egg white. Brush the outside of your cannoli shells with a little egg white. If cooking in an air fryer or oven, lightly spray them with oil.

When you can't find your cannoli tubes, you have to get creative.

Fry your cannoli shells for 30-45 seconds or until they are a golden brown colour. For the air fryer or oven this takes around 5 minutes.

Remove the shells from the fryer or oven and allow them to cool for a few minutes before carefully sliding them off the cannoli tubes / aluminum foil rolls. Set aside to cool fully.

Melt your chocolate in a bain marie or microwave then dip the ends of your cannoli tubes in the melted chocolate before rolling them in crushed nuts or crumbled shortbread. Place on a sheet of baking paper and allow to cool completely, or place the cannoli tubes in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to set the chocolate. I combined white chocolate with crushed pistachios for the Lemon cannoli, white chocolate and crumbled shortbread for the Raspberry Cheesecake cannoli, and dark chocolate and crushed almonds for the Cherry Bakewell cannoli.

Dip the ends of the cannoli shells in melted chocolate, then roll them in crushed nuts or shortbread. Fill them just before serving for optimal results.

You’ll want to wait until the last minute to fill the cannoli as they are best served right after filling so that the shells retain their crunch. Simply warm any jam you are using (lemon curd for the Lemon cannoli, raspberry jam for the Raspberry Cheesecake cannoli, and cherry jam for the Cherry Bakewell cannoli) in the microwave for 20 seconds then mix the jam through the chilled ricotta and mascarpone mixture. Use your piping bag and star shaped nozzle to pipe the filling into the cannoli shells.

Serve immediately with an appropriately Italian beverage and imagine yourself sat outside that little Sicilian pasticceria.

The view from outside a Sicilian pasticceria. Image courtesy of Unsplash.

I’ll be back next month, when I’ll be heading to Germany to sample some of their world famous bread. Sprechen sie Deutsch?

Until then,

Share joy, share love, share cakes.