🇮🇹 Homemade Italian Cannoli
Ingredients
For Cannoli shells
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- Water (about 5 tbsp, depends on your flour)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Vegetable or canola oil for frying
For the filling
- 1 1/2 cup Ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Egg wash
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp water
Garnish
- Mini chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar
Instructions
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Put Ricotta in a cheesecloth in a strainer and let it drain in a bowl, preferably overnight in the fridge.
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Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
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Mix Ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, lemon zest and juice. Mix well until smooth.
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Fold in the whipped cream. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
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Prepare the cannoli shells’ dough.
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In a bowl, put flour, salt, cinnamon, sugar and butter. Mix to combine.
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Add water 1 tablespoon at the time and mix with a spoon or preferably with hand.
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Once the dough gets together, put it on a working board and knead it for about 5 minutes or less until smooth. The dough has to be stiff but workable.
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Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes.
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Roll out the dough into thin sheets. Use a pasta machine to obtain the thinnest sheets.
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Use a round cookie cutter to cut out the dough into circles.
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Place the cannoli tube in the middle of the disc of dough.
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Brush one side of the disc with egg wash ( beaten egg mixed with water), then roll the tube to seal the dough.
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Deep fry the cannoli shells with the tubes until golden.
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Drain, then use a paper towel to hold the cannoli tube as it is hot and gently slide the shell out of the tube.
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Fill out the cannoli shells in both sides with the cream, using a pastry bag and dip the edges in mini chocolate chips.
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Dust the Cannoli with powdered sugar.
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Enjoy.
Recipe Notes
- You can mix some of the mini chocolate chips to the filling.
- Cannoli shells’ dough doesn’t contain alcohol in my recipe. The shells came out bubbly and crispy as they should be.