Cannoli
Two things decide a cannolo, and neither of them is the dough recipe. First: the ricotta must be drained — any whey left in it will soften the shell from the inside within half an hour. Second: fill them just before serving. Cannoli piped in the morning and served in the evening are a different, far worse dessert.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Draining the ricotta 60 min
- Dough 15 min
- Chilling 60 min
- Frying the shells 30 min
- Filling 15 min
Step by step
0 / 9 doneDrain the ricotta in a sieve
Line a sieve with muslin, tip in the ricotta and refrigerate for at least an hour, ideally overnight. Several tablespoons of whey will run out. Only then will the filling be thick enough not to weep out of the shell — no amount of sugar or flour makes up for it.
Ingredients: 500 g ricotta · 120 g icing sugar · ¼ tsp cinnamon · 60 g dark chocolate · 40 g candied peel · 40 g pistachios
Knead a stiff dough
Mix the flour with sugar, cocoa and salt, rub in the lard, then add the yolk, Marsala and vinegar. Knead for 5 minutes — the dough should be as stiff as pasta dough, almost unyielding. A soft dough will not roll thin enough to blister.
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour · 25 g sugar · 1 tsp cocoa · 1 pinch salt · 30 g lard · 90 ml Marsala · 1 tsp wine vinegar · 1 pcs egg
TipThe cocoa adds colour rather than chocolate flavour — without it the shells look pale and underdone.
Chill for an hour
Wrap the dough and chill for an hour. The gluten developed by kneading has to relax, otherwise the dough shrinks back from under the rolling pin and springs to its old shape.
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour · 25 g sugar · 1 tsp cocoa · 1 pinch salt · 30 g lard · 90 ml Marsala · 1 tsp wine vinegar · 1 pcs egg
Roll it until it is translucent
Roll in batches to 1 mm — you should be able to see the outline of your hand through it. That is the thickness at which steam tears the surface into the characteristic blisters. Thicker dough fries flat and hard.
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour · 25 g sugar · 1 tsp cocoa · 1 pinch salt · 30 g lard · 90 ml Marsala · 1 tsp wine vinegar · 1 pcs egg
One millimetre — your hand shows through.Wrap the tubes and seal with egg white
Cut 10×12 cm ovals, wrap each around a metal tube with an overlap and seal with egg white, not water. Water flashes off in the oil within a second and the shell unrolls; egg white sets and holds.
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour · 25 g sugar · 1 tsp cocoa · 1 pinch salt · 30 g lard · 90 ml Marsala · 1 tsp wine vinegar · 1 pcs egg
The overlap sealed with egg white, never water.Fry at 180°C for two minutes
Fry two or three at a time in oil at 180°C for about 2 minutes, until the surface is covered in blisters and deep gold — in batches, about 25 minutes in all. Oil that is too cool soaks in and gives greasy, pale shells; too hot and they scorch before the pastry has time to blister.
Ingredients: 1000 ml oil
Blisters on the surface mean the oil is right.Slide the tubes off while hot
Lift them onto paper and pull the metal tubes out after a minute, holding them with a cloth — the shell slides off warm metal most easily, while a cold one can stick and crack. Let the tubes cool before wrapping the next batch, as hot metal scalds both dough and fingers. Cool the shells completely — a warm shell melts the filling.
Ingredients: 1000 ml oil
Beat the ricotta by hand, not by machine
Work the drained ricotta with the icing sugar and cinnamon using a spatula, or push it through a sieve. A mixer breaks down the curd structure and the filling turns runny instead of thickening. Fold in the chocolate and candied peel.
Ingredients: 500 g ricotta · 120 g icing sugar · ¼ tsp cinnamon · 60 g dark chocolate · 40 g candied peel · 40 g pistachios
Fill just before serving
Pipe from both ends towards the middle so no air pocket is left. Dip the ends in chopped pistachio, dust with icing sugar and serve straight away, within half an hour at most — after that the shell starts to soften.
Ingredients: 500 g ricotta · 120 g icing sugar · ¼ tsp cinnamon · 60 g dark chocolate · 40 g candied peel · 40 g pistachios
From both ends inwards, a minute before serving.
Before you start
Shells ahead of time
Empty, cooled shells keep for a week in an airtight tin. The filling keeps two days in a closed container in the fridge. Assembly then takes two minutes at the table.
No metal tubes
Lengths of thick bamboo work, or tightly rolled and oiled aluminium foil about 2.5 cm across. They only need to survive being submerged in hot oil.
Cow's milk ricotta
Sheep's milk ricotta has a pronounced, faintly tangy flavour and is what Sicilians use. Cow's milk is milder and usually wetter — with that one, drain overnight rather than for an hour.
