Party Cannoli

festive and classic, cannoli for a crowd

Dec 16, 2023

I am told that my grandmother made great cannoli. I’m sure I tasted it when I was a kid, but by the time I was old enough to really have any memory of foods and flavors, she was old enough that making cannoli wasn’t a regular activity. Last year, my aunt and I took a heritage trip to Sicily. For the last few years, I’ve been working on a cookbook manuscript with my modern take on a bunch of the Sicilian family recipes I remember growing up with and I wanted to take an actual trip to Sicily, to see where my family was from and taste the food myself for research and inspiration. We spent some time in the big cities—eating arancini in Palermo, tasting Marsala wine in Marsala— and then my aunt and I made our way to a tiny little town called Aragona in the region of Agrigento, where the Amato family hailed from.

It was a small, quiet village, and we were the only ones out that day as we walked around the palazzo. There was a church with it’s doors shuttered, a closed cafe, and the crumbling facade of what used to be city hall. On the statue in the center of the square were names of people from the town who had fought in World War II that we scrutinized, looking for any surnames we recognized.

Later that night, we had booked a cooking class in a woman’s home in the next town over. We wanted to learn more about the specific food of the region and it turned out that our host’s husband was also from the little town of Aragona. That night, over little cups of espresso and wine, we rolled pasta and stuffed squid and of course, we made cannoli.

party cannoli

A few years ago, my dad scanned and compiled all of my grandmother’s recipe cards into a word document and I consult it often when I have questions about how she made caponata or for her briolata recipe. Thankfully, it also contains her cannoli recipe. The recipe is quite similar to the one we made in Agrigento, and I blended my favorite parts from the two into this recipe.

Though I originally planned on sharing this recipe as traditional rolled cannoli, I wanted something a little easier to make for a crowd. It's party season, after all. We have a little Italian market in our neighborhood that we frequent regularly and in their bakery section, they sell house made cannoli chips. They are little triangles of cannoli dough, similar to pita or tortilla chips, dusted with powdered sugar and served with a condiment cup of filling. Martin and I get them often and keep them in the fridge for snacking—I love that I can snag a bite after lunch when I’m craving something sweet and they don’t get soggy quickly the way that filled cannolis do.

I discovered that cannoli chips are great for the holidays. They don’t take quite as much effort as rolled cannoli and can be made ahead of time and put out on a dessert table for snacking. We’re calling them party cannoli and they make a great addition to your holiday table.

P.S. This recipe will include instructions for making traditional rolled cannoli as well, if that is what floats your boat.

party cannoli

makes 10 rolled cannoli or enough cannoli chips to serve 4-6 people

Ingredients:

for the dough:

240 g (2 cups) cake flour

25 g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar

37 g (3 tbsp) unsalted butter, cold

1 large egg (50 g), plus one egg white for sealing if making rolled cannoli

1/2 tsp kosher salt

72 g (6 tbsp) marsala wine

vegetable oil for frying

powdered sugar, for dusting

for the filling:

1 lb whole milk ricotta cheese

200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla extract

the zest of 1 small orange

1/4 cup heavy cream

optional toppings: chopped dark chocolate, chopped pistachios

Procedure:

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, butter, and salt. Pulse for about 30 seconds, until all of the butter is broken up into pea-sized pieces.
Add the egg and the marsala wine and pulse again a few times, just until a dough begins to come together around the blade.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured work surface and knead by hand for 2-3 minutes, until smooth and elastic, like a ball of fresh pasta. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours.
Place the ricotta cheese in a bowl lined with cheesecloth, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let some of the excess liquid drain for at least an hour. You can also let it drain overnight in the refrigerator if desired.
When you’re ready to roll and fry the cannoli, fill a large, heavy-bottomed pot about 3” deep with vegetable oil. Heat to 350° F.
After the dough has rested, unwrap it and return it to the floured work surface. Roll the dough into a large circle, about 16” in diameter and about 1/8” thick. (Once you think you’ve rolled it pretty thin, roll it a little thinner.)
If making rolled cannoli, use a ring about 4” in diameter to cut circles out of the dough. If making party cannoli chips, use a sharp knife to cut the dough into triangles about the size of tortilla chips.
Working in batches, fry the cannoli chips for 2-3 minutes on each side, until deeply golden brown and crispy. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and let drain on a paper towel-lined sheet tray.
For rolled cannoli, wrap each dough disc around cylindrical cannoli tubes and brush the edges with a bit of beaten egg to seal. Place the wrapped tubes gently in the oil and fry for 3-4 minutes, turning halfway through for even browning. Use tongs to remove them from the oil and drain them on a paper towel-lined sheet tray. While the shells are still warm, with a clean towel, grasp the shell firmly in one hand and use a pair of tongs in the other hand to pull the tubes to remove the shells.
To make the filling, combine the drained ricotta, sugar, nutmeg, vanilla, orange zest, and heavy cream in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip until thick. You can also whisk it vigorously by hand.
For rolled cannoli, pipe the ricotta filling into the cooled cannoli shells just before serving and roll the ends in chopped chocolate or pistachios. For party cannoli, place the filling in small bowls and top with chocolate and/or pistachios. Dust the cooled cannoli chips with powdered sugar and serve them with the ricotta for dipping.