Friday Foodie

While I made cannolis last week, I decided to take step by step pictures. I don't usually do this, but I thought you'd enjoy the process. These pictures are SOOC (straight out of camera), so please forgive any horrible lighting, processing, etc. I'll take you through the recipe in two parts ~ the filling first, then the shells.

The recipes come from my Rosalie Serving Italian cookbook. I've added a few comments along the way, which will be in italics. I didn't change any of the ingredients trying to make these healthier. I mean, really? How healthy can fried dough be??

Cannoli Filling

1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 Tbsp maraschino cherries, drained, and chopped fine
2 Tbsp small chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecan pieces
maraschino cherries, halved, for garnishing ends of cannolis

Homemade Italian Cannoli Shells

1 1/4 cups flour, divided
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp soft unsalted butter
1 large egg, beaten
2 Tbsp milk
1 egg white, beaten
4 cups olive oil for deep frying shells

First, the filling:


1. With an electric beater, whip the cream, adding the sugar a little at a time. Add the vanilla, and beat until stiff peaks form.


2. Add the ricotta, chopped cherries, and chocolate chips. Fold together gently. Refrigerate until shells are ready. (This was the easy part!)


Second, the shells:



1. Place 1 cup flour in a mound on clean counter. (I didn't like the idea of putting the flour on my counter, so I put it on my cutting board. I should have done steps 1 and 2 in a bowl. When I added the egg and milk, it was a bit messy!) Add salt and sugar and mix together. Work in the softened butter until the flour becomes "mealy."


2. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the beaten egg and milk. (My well wasn't deep enough, so the egg and milk ran all over my cutting board. Oops!)


Work the flour into the egg mixture and bring the dough together, adding the remaining 1/4 cup flour. The dough should be soft and pliable.


3. On floured board, roll the dough out, turning often and sprinkling with added flour to keep the dough from sticking.


Roll the dough to a square about 12" by 12". (Since I'd never made these before, I didn't want to just "eyeball" the size of the dough.)


The dough should be very thin, about the thickness of a rolled noodle. Cut squares 3" by 3". (I used my pizza cutter for this part ~ perfect squares were not required)



4. Place cannoli form diagonally on each dough square.


Wrap pastry around form, one corner over the other. Seal corners with egg white.


5. In 3-quart pot, heat oil to 375 degrees. Deep-fry 3 shells at a time (I did four, since I had four forms.) Using a fork inserted into one end of the form, turn the shells once to brown evenly. These shells cook quickly, in about 1 1/2 minutes. (I used my electric skillet for this because it has a temperature setting on it. It wasn't until I was ready to start frying that I realized that I only had about 2 cups of oil. The shells cooked fine, but took about 2 1/2 minutes and had to be turned a couple more times.)


Using a fork tine, remove from pot when they are golden brown and crisp. (The fork wasn't working for me, so I used tongs.)


6. Lay hot shells on paper towels to drain and let cool about 3 minutes. Gently hold forms with paper towel and push cooked shells off form (they will not break). Continue to wrap forms with dough and deep fry, until all the squares have been used. (None of my shells broke ~ they really did come off easily.)


7. Using a small spoon or spatula, fill cannoli shell first from one end and then the other. Press filling gently to make sure centers are full. Scrape ends to smooth cream.


Dip ends in chopped pecans and garnish with a maraschino cherry. Sift powdered sugar over all. Makes 15 filled shells.


I have to tell you, these turned out better than expected! They were so good. I will be making them again.


I did not try to figure out the nutritional info on these. Maybe next time... The one thing I don't know is how to figure out is the oil. Obviously some fat is added, but not 2 cups worth. When I finished all the frying, most of the oil was still in my skillet. Anyone know how to figure that out when frying food??