The Best Cannoli Ever
By: Nicole Rose Van...
Published: Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 8:35pm

Ingredients




Cannoli Tubes

(Either make your own or out of wooden dowel sticks sawed into 4-5" pieces at about 1 1/2" diameter, or 
Cannoli Shells

6 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups port wine or a sweet merlot (must be sweet and may exceed 1 ½ cups if dough is n
salad oil or shortening for deep frying

2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
Cannoli Filling

3 pounds Riccota cheese (whole milk)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
10 candied cherries chopped fine
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons fresh grated orange zest
1/4 cup grated chocolate (milk chocolate works nicely, but dark choc

Preparation

1 Sift flour, sugar, & cinnamon into a mixing bowl 2 Add port and blend with a fork 3 Knead dough for about 15 minutes until dough is smooth and stiff 4 Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours 5 Next, make your filling. 6 In a large bowl, beat Ricotta cheese for about 1 minute with an electric beater 7 Add sugar and beat for 1 more minute 8 Add other ingredients and beat just until blended. 9 Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours 10 Pass the two hours by watching your favorite cooking show, doing laundry, taking care of children, voting on my recipe, or prepping for dinner. 11 Slowly heat salad oil or shortening for deep frying. 12 Oil should be 3/4" deep. (A wok works very well for frying) 13 Roll about 1/6th of the dough to paper thinness, making circles wide enough to wrap around your Cannoli tubes. 14 Wrap a circle loosely around a Cannoli tube 15 Seal with egg yolk 16 Cook two at a time (to prevent sticking), turning as they brown 17 Drain on paper towels and let cool. 18 To fill shells, place filling in a large Ziploc bag and cut the tip off of one corner, filling Cannoli shells from the middle of one side to the outter edge. Then turn the shell around and fill from the middle of the other side. This will prevent a messy presentation. 19 Sprinkle with pieces of chocolate, candied cherry pieces. 20 I like to drizzle melted chocolate over my Cannoli and then sprinkle with powdered sugar. 21 Serve immediately. (They'll practically run into the mouths of your guests.) 22 Tips: 23 Cannoli filling will melt if placed in a hot Cannoli shell, and you don't want that, so let the shells cool off. You can store cooked shells in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer if you'd like to let them cool off, or simply to have shells for another day's company. Most people don't have 4 hours to devote to desert.

About


Two things I love about Sicily that I can think of off the top of my head: Cannoli and pizza! I had both tonight! Well, it wasn't Sicilian pizza and I didn't make it, But as for Cannoli from scratch, yes and Amen!!!!
These Cannoli were instant party pleasers, and I'm sure they'll be a hit at your gathering, no matter how small or large it is. We can't all get to Europe tomorrow, but we can certainly create a taste of the culture in our own homes! While I'm not Sicilian (I'm Italian), and the rivalry is all fun and games, I've been assured by my own Italian family that Cannoli is "the thing to eat" at events where delicious food is the focal point.

Comments:
Jasmine Vandeventer

mmmm.... cannoli!
Stephanie Larson

Looks yummy!
Cary James

oohhhh, looks yummy, I am hungry too!!!