Cannoli

A cannoli is a crispy Italian pastry tube filled with sweet and velvety cream that combines to tantalize your tongue. Throughout my life my favorite dessert has always been cannolis.  Walking into an Italian baker would practically take my breath away. For me the best bakery in the world is Sal & Dom’s on Allerton Avenue in the Bronx. You walk in there and the smell assaults you like a dessert dream come true. The cookies, pastries, and breads would make your mouth water. Oh how I miss them. After leaving New York and my beloved Sal & Dom’s, it took me many years, but I have finally mastered the art of making a cannoli filling that I think has the right taste and texture.  The cream is sweet, but not too sweet, and velvety smooth but firm.

Making the cannoli tube/shell is a very labor intensive process and you need to have special tube to fry the shells in. I’ve found that I can purchase the cannoli shells at many megamarts and Italian specialty stores. This makes this a quick and easy dessert. I’ve also added some variations that can give this classic dessert some variety. I hope you enjoy them.

Now this filling has many uses beyond cannolis.  I put it in Cream Puffs and as a filling in cakes.  It is also good as a topping for fresh fruit.

Makes 12 servings

Cannoli Filling

1 lb Mascarpone Cheese (Room Temp) *

1 lb Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese

½ tsp almond extract

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 C Confectionary Sugar

12 Cannoli Shells

Variations

Jam Filling *

Nutella^® Hazelnut Spread

Mini Chocolate Chips

Unsalted Chopped Pistachios

Place the Mascarpone cheese on the counter for one hour so that it can get to room temperature.

Place the mascarpone cheese and the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low until the sugar is incorporated. Turn the mixer to high and beat until light and fluffy.  Drain any liquid from the ricotta cheese.  Add the ricotta, almond extract and vanilla extract and beat on medium just until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides.

Place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour prior to filling the cannolis.

Cannoli shells can get soggy. It’s best to fill them as close to the time you are serving them as possible.

Filling Cannolis

Filling a cannoli is easy. You can use a piping bag fitted with a ½ inch round tip or you can put your filling into a Ziploc^® bag with a corner of the bag cut off (the hole should be ½ inch across). Pipe the cream from the center of the shell out working from each side.

Cannoli Variations - The variations on cannolis are endless. Here are but a few that I’ve made. 

1. Using a piping bag or Ziploc bag, pipe a layer of the filling on the   

    bottom of the cannoli (see 1 in diagram)

2. Pipe a thin amount of jam or Nutella^® in the middle (see 2)

3. Fill the remaining space with the cannoli filling (see 3)

End topping – After a cannoli is filled, dip the ends in mini chocolate chips or unsalted, chopped pistachios.

* Pronto Substitutes

Mascarpone Cheese – You can substitute cream cheese but it will be slightly sweeter.

Center Filling – You can pipe any jam or other filling into the center of the cannoli. I’ve added strawberry, Fig and raspberry jam as well as Nutella^® Hazelnut Spread to my cannolis.

To print a copy of this recipe go to Cannoli.