Cannoli
Crisp pastry housing light and fluffy ricotta - these are absolute heaven
SERVES
6
PEOPLE
PREP TIME
50
MINUTES
COOKING TIME
15
MINUTES
Ingredients
For the cannoli:
150g plain flour
¼ tsp bread soda, sieved
¼ tsp cinnamon, sieved
a pinch of sea salt, sieved
12g golden caster sugar
30g cold butter, cubed
1 egg, separated
50mls marsala, sweet wine
clean oil for frying
For the filling:
300g firm ricotta
½ tbs honey
a handful of shelled and chopped pistachios
chocolate — optional
Method
Mix the flour, bread soda, cinnamon, salt and sugar. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until it looks like very fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and marsala and bring the dough together. Knead for about a minute until smooth then place it into the fridge to firm up. I usually wrap it in baking parchment.
Roll the dough as thin as you can and cut into circles of about 5 inches in diameter. They will need to go around your cannoli moulds with room to join the ends together. There should be about an inch of overlap. Brush the overlapping pieces with the egg white and then with your fingers press them together so they the dough makes neat tubes around the mould.
Heat your oil in a deep fat fryer or a saucepan to 180 degrees. Fry the cannoli still attached to their moulds. The pastry should turn golden and blister. Very gently remove them from the oil with tongs and allow to cool so you can slide them off the mould. Allow the hollow cannoli tubes to cool on sheets of brown paper or kitchen paper.
Whisk the ricotta with the honey and pipe your cold shells with the filling. Dip each end into chopped pistachios or you can dip the shells in melted chocolate if you wish.
