Cannoli Siciliani - Sicilian Style Cannoli

This recipe for a crispy wafer filled with sweet cream is a full of flavor and embodies the essence of Sicily.
The Sicilian cannolo is one of the most famous Italian sweets in the world. Contrary to what most people believe, these delicious ricotta-cream filled wafers have been around for a long, long time.

The cannoli should be filled right before serving: after a few hours they tend to become soft and lose that nice crunchiness which is the main feature of this dessert’s deliciousness and attraction.

30 minutes preparation + 30 minutes cooking

Ingredients

For filling

2 lb ricotta cheese, (preferably from sheep)

1 lb sugar

milk to taste

vanilla to taste

cinnamon to taste

3 ½ oz mixed candied fruit, diced

3 ½ oz dark chocolate, chopped

Garnish

pistachio, reduced to grains

confectioners sugar

For the wafers

7 oz all-purpose flour

1 oz cocoa powder

1 oz sugar

2 eggs

¾ oz butter

salt to taste

1 tablespoon Marsala wine, or Rum

lard, or frying olive oil to taste

 

Preparation

 

To make the crispy wafers, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, melted butter and eggs in a bowl. Then add the Marsala, or if you prefer, the rum. Continue mixing until the dough is smooth, then wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for half an hour.
Roll out the cannoli dough and cut it into squares, about 4 inches per side. Then wrap the squares around the metal tubes to shape the cannoli. Fry the dough, still wrapped around the tubes, in a large pot of boiling lard or olive oil. Let the cannoli cool on paper towels. Once cool, slide out the metal tubes.
To make the ricotta-based filling, with a fork the ricotta and sugar, adding a bit of milk and a dash of vanilla extract and cinnamon. Pass the mixture through a sieve and blend in diced candied fruit and bits of dark chocolate.
Fill the crispy dough with the ricotta filling and sprinkle the crushed pistachio nuts over the ends. Sprinkle the outside with powdered sugar.