(Sicilian cannoli - Authentic Italian recipes)

Sicilian cannoli - Sicilian cornets filled with ricotta cheese and candied fruit

For the dough
150 g (5 1/2 oz) white flour
10 g (1/3 oz) lard (Italian strutto) or unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon Marsala liqueur
1 tablespoon brandy liqueur
1/2 tablespoon bitter cocoa
1/2 tablespoon powdered coffee
1 egg white, beaten
Pinch of salt
For the filling
250 g (8 1/2 oz) ricotta cheese
125 g (4 1/2 oz) icing sugar
20 g (2/3 oz) candied fruit, cut into little pieces
20 g (2/3 oz) pure chocolate, cut into little pieces
Other ingredients
300 ml (10 fl oz - 1 1/4 C) extra virgin olive oil
60 ml (2 1/2 fl oz - 1/4 C + 2 tbsp) almond oil or unsalted butter
1 egg white, beaten
40 g (1 1/2 oz) peeled pistachios

Time:
preparation: 45 minutes
cooking: 20 minutes
Difficulty:
medium difficulty
Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 876 (kCal) 44 % GDA - 3666 (kJ)
Protein: 9.6 (g) 18 % GDA
Total fat: 71.7 (g) 101 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 51.0 (g) 19 % GDA
Sugars: 30.2 (g) 33 % GDA

Prepare the dough for the cannoli shells. Mix the flour with the lard (strutto or sugna); you can also use unsalted butter. Add a pinch of salt, sugar, cocoa and coffee, liqueurs and egg white. Knead the ingredients on a lightly floured surface until you obtain a smooth dough. Shape the dough as a ball, cover with a napkin and let it rest for almost 2 hours. Roll out on a lightly floured surface the dough, beginning from the center, to a very thin thickness; you have to use a long pasta rolling pin for this.
Cut 12 round shapes; everyone must have a diameter of 10 cm (4in).
Lightly butter the metal tubes used for making cannoli. You can substitute butter with almond oil if you find it. Wrap the round shapes around the tubes. Don't press the dough against the tubes too much; otherwise it will be difficult to remove the shells afterwards. Wet the overlapping part with the egg white, lightly beaten, and press on the edges to stick them together.
Put the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and bring to the frying temperature. Fry the tubes with the shells until golden a few at a time. Take away the tubes from the oil and put them on absorbent kitchen paper to drain the excess fat. Let the shells cool completely before removing them from the tubes.
Prepare the filling. Put the ricotta cheese together with icing sugar, candied fruit and chocolate in a bowl and stir. Fill the shells shortly before serving cannoli. In this way the ricotta mixture doesn't wet the shells too much. Fill the shells with a little spoon or a pastry bag. Decorate with chopped pistachios or pieces of candied cherries.

Note

- Metal tubes are cylinders whose borders are drawn and not soldered. Their lenght must be 10-15 cm (4-6in) and diameter 1,2-3 cm (1/2 - 1 1/4in).
- The shells are fried in the lard in the traditional recipe.
- You can prepare the shells even a week before serving cannoli. Chill them until filling.
- There are a lot of recipes about the shells and their filling; we have suggested the most popular version.
- Sicilian cannoli were created in Palermo in S. Catherine monastery. Ricotta cheese was introduced by the Greeks and mixed to candied fruit, chocolate, liqueur according to Arabian style.
- A little curiosity. These cakes are typical Carnival pastry but nowadays you can find them all year. Generally Sicilian people give them as a present by the dozen.