It is worth buying cannoli moulds to make the process of making the shell cases a pleasure not a chore. You only need four. They can be made two days ahead of time and stored in an airtight container. If you don’t have a piping bag, fold some baking paper into a cone shape and snip off the end.
Ingredients
| 3 cups | Flour |
| 1 tsp | Cinnamon |
| 50 g | Cold butter, chopped |
| 1 | Egg |
| 1 | Egg yolk, save the white |
| ½ cup | Sweet wine |
| 1 Tbsp | White wine vinegar |
| 0 | Oil, for frying |
Filling
| 500 g | Ricotta (Main) |
| ½ cup | Icing sugar |
| ½ tsp | Vanilla |
| 2 Tbsp | Lemon zest, finely grated |
| ¼ cup | Pistachios, finely chopped (Main) |
| ¼ cup | Pine nuts, toasted |
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Directions
- Into a large bowl place the flour, cinnamon, sugar and butter. Rub the butter into the mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg, yolk, wine and vinegar. Using a fork, mix to form the dough. Knead for a few minutes, then wrap and place into the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Roll the pastry to 3mm thickness using either a pasta machine or rolling pin. Using a cutter or bowl cut the pastry into 15cm circles. Cut out all the circles before starting to cook.
- Heat 3cm oil in a deep fat fryer or large pot to 190C.
- Wrap pastry around the moulds, seal the edges with a little egg white. Cook the cannoli cases for 2 minutes. Remove from the oil and when cool enough remove from the moulds. Continue to cook the remainder.
- For the filling, in a bowl combine the ricotta, icing sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and nuts. Using a spoon or piping bag, fill the cooled cases. Serve dusted with icing sugar and a few extra nuts.
