When I read the December’s Baker’s Challenge I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I LOVE cannoli. I don’t just like them, I LOVE them. I do not indulge in them too often because I would weigh 400 pounds otherwise. And this may sound silly but I never really buy them in my home city of Montreal. Even weirder my favorite cannoli are found in Boston at Mike’s Pastry in Little Italy. I have been told that the best canolli in Montreal are at Alati Caserta in Little Italy but have not gone there yet‎.
But I soon realized before getting to heaven I would first have to pass through hell. I fear frying in oil and have no real experience in it. You’ll remember I almost started a fire on my last attempt with the chocolate wontons. And before that well I honestly cannot remember if I have attempted to fry anything really. But I found the courage and went out to by a frying thermometer.
Actually I decided to do half the recipe fried and the other have baked…just to see the difference. Before I go on let me tell you the November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose her Cannolo (Cannoli is plural) recipe by using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.
I had my friend Raquel over to participate in the preparation. If you want to make them you can find the full recipe here. The night before I drained my ricotta as per directed in cheese cloth with weights on it. I was surprised at how little liquid came out of it.
Then we made the dough and let it rest for a good 2 hours. During that time there was a lot of wine and we made the ricotta filling. I wanted to keep it simple so I only added a little orange zest and I ground some freshly baked chestnuts. We decided to make have plain and half chocolate.
Then the tough part. Rolling out the dough and cutting it. Wow that is tough dough. But we finally got though it. I did not want to purchase cannoli tubes so I bought manicoti pasta tubes and oiled them prior. Worked just fine. Got the oil going and threw in the first batch. I was slightly panicked. But you know what they came out not bad at all. They blistered nicely as described. I made them a bit smaller.
One got loose from the tube and fried up into a big puffy ball. Looks like a spaceship or a puffed fried pita lol.
Once they were cooled down we filled some zi plock bags, cut the end of, and stuffed the shells with the ricotta mix. Here is the result decorated with more chestnuts
The baked shells are really inferior in look and taste…still good but it’s totally worth the effort to fry them.
And finally the taste test. They were simply…heavenly!
Hugs and Biscuits,
Evelyne
Your chocolate & chestnut cannoli sound fantastic! Well done 🙂
Thank you Valérie and Shaz.
Yeah chestnuts just happen to be around but was an awesome combo
YUM! I love chestnuts, the pairing of chocolate and chestnut is up there with the best of them. That huge puffed up one looks awesome:) And you baked and fried – sheer dedication, bravo.
Awesome job, they look so cute! It’s good to know that fried pasta tubes work as well. And I love that you experimented and compared baking vs frying (though I’m not all that surprised that the fried cannoli came out on top).
Thank you all for your amazing compliments.
Aurora I am up for that cannoli taste test tour
Cannoli Heaven indeed! 😀 This is totally awesome. Nice work!!
Correction:
My friend lived in LITTLE Italy…not Italy. lol
All I can say after reading/seeing your cannoli blog is this:
***DROOL***
Oh and I CAN attest to the fact that the best canolli in Montreal ARE at Alati Caserta in Little Italy. My dad would pick some up on Sundays for the family, after he went to mass at the church across the street.
I’ve tried the canolli all over town, but none compare to Alati!
One summer I apartment sat for a friend who lived in Italy and I think I gained 10 pounds in 2 weeks, from those Alati pastries…lol
Oh and I would be available if you care to do a Montreal canolli taste test around town some time. 😉
What a gorgeous array of cannoli, and I love that you made it a night of fun with a friend, AND that you both liked them! Thanks so much for taking part in my challenge..you kicked some major cannoli booty! 🙂
Beautiful cannoli! Yes, the dough was very difficult to roll. I don’t know how anyone without a pasta machine even managed. Congratulation!
Heavenly is the best tag for them and your shells are perfectly blistered and warty and I love that photo of the platter full of finished cannoli superb work on this challenge. Cheers from Audax in Australia. Very elegant looking cannoli.