cannoli siciliani

Yummy, yummy, yummy....
Chopped pistachios, semi-sweet chocolate pieces, and candied citrus peel or cherries are often still included, dotting the open ends of the pastries.
You can find the best in Sicily, where there come from, but with this recipe you will become a master....
You have to find the cylinders to fry them on, but I know that you are full of resources...

Ingredients for about 20 cannoli

250 gr flour
30 gr.icing sugar
50 gr. lard (or vegetable oil)
1 egg + 1 egg white
1 teaspoon dark cocoa powder
30 ml Dry Marsala wine
1 pinch of salt
1 about 1 liter / 2 pints vegetable oil (to fry)

750 grs. / 1.6 lbs.  ricotta (possibly made with ships' milk)
300 grs. / 0.66  sugar
75 grs. / a table spoons chopped dark chocolate

to decorate

candied citrus peel or candied cherries
or chopped dark chocolate
or chopped (unsalted) pistachio...
or chopped hazelnuts




1) For the ricotta cream, let the ricotta drain in a sieve. Discart the liquid.
Then work together the ricotta and the sugar. Refrigerate.



2) In the meanwhile prepare the shells: Mix together the flour, the cocoa powder and the icing sugar.
Add the sugar and the lard and start making the dough, then add the egg and little by little the Marsala wine.
Kneed it for at least 5 minutes, the dough must be quite solid and smooth.

Wrap the dough in cling film and let it "rest" for at least 1 hour in the fridge.


Pull the dough  very thin (1 mm.) with your pasta machine or the rolling pin.
With a ring about 9 cm 7 3.5 inch approx (anyway it depends from the dimensiones of your cylinder) cut it and you will get about 20-24 disks. 

Pull them slightly to change the shape in ovals, grease the cylinders with some moil and roll the rounds, sealing with a little bit of egg white.





In a frying pan, warm up a good quantity of vegetable oil, and when it boils, fry the shells with the cylinders.

It takes very little, let them golden on all sides, and drain on some paper.
When cold, slip off the shells from the cylinders and proceed until you have dough.
The shells will keep well in an air-tight container, and you can make them in advance.

Before filling the shells, add the chocolate to the ricotta.










Fill the shells with the creamy ricotta ONLY before serving them, if not, the shell tends to become soft, and it looses its crunchiness.





Decorate the two ends with chocolate chips, candied citrus peel.