Holy Cannoli!! "Nonna Mia" Demonstrates How To Make Sicilian Cannoli (including the fried shell)

To make these delicious treats, you have to first make the fried tube-shaped shell. While some choose to buy the shells, Nonna prefers to make her own. If stored well, they can keep in a freezer for up to 3 months. Once on hand, it is very easy and quick to whip these up for company so you might want to consider making the shells ahead of time unless you have a big window to make both on the same day.

Shell recipe:
Mix 2 cups of flour, a pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon together in a bowl. Then cut in 30 grams of cold butter cubes. Once coarsely mixed into the dry ingredients, blend in an egg and 1/3 cup of Marsala. Work together in the bowl to form a ball of dough, then transfer onto a board, and continue to knead it until smooth. This will take at least 5 minutes. Once smooth, cover in plastic and place in the fridge for about an hour, to rest.

Remove the rested dough from the fridge, and place on a dusted board, and begin to roll flat, continuously, until it is somewhat transparent when lifted. Of course, you can use a pasta-making machine to ease the effort, but Nonna prefers to do it by hand, the good old-fashioned way.

Once ready, use the lid of a coffee tin, or similar to cut round shapes from the dough. Roll each circle with the pin a couple times, to lengthen it to an oval shape. Then, with an egg wash, roll the dough around the tubes and place a tab of egg on the end, to help keep the dough rolled to form a Cannolo, or little tube. Once the oil (Nonna uses canola oil) is really hot, fry each shell a few minutes until golden brown and bubbled. Place each fried tube on a plate with paper towels, to absorb excess oil. Allow the tubes to cool slightly, and carefully remove the tube form from the shell. Repeat until complete. Nonna's recipe made 23 initial rounds, and with the scrap dough, she made another 5, for a total of 28 cannoli shells. Nonna's are small'ish as they are rich and easier to eat if not too large, but you are of course free to make them any size you wish. The shells are then filled with a sweet cheese cream filling.

Fun fact: Marsala is a fortified wine, dry or sweet, produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. The word Marsala takes its origin from Arabic - the Arabs use to rule Sicily. Perhaps this explains the use of pistachios - you often see it in Arabic desserts.

Filling Recipe:
Nonna used a 650-gram container of ricotta and placed it in a sieve overnight, to help drain any excess water. To that, she simply added 1/2 cup icing sugar and the grated rind of one lemon. She transferred the cream to a plastic bag and cut the end. Fill each end and dip the ends in crushed pistachio or chocolate chip, or add a cherry/candied lemon or orange.

Dust with icing sugar - and you're done!!

Buon appetito!

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