Cannoli Shells And Ricotta Cream Filling

Description

Giovanna, our good friend, makes wonderful cannoli shells and ricotta cream-love friends like her! Her family owned italian restaurants for over 40 years in the chicago area. She stores the shells in a plastic air tight container at room temperature for 2 months and freezes the filling she is not using immediately and defrosts it in the refrigerator later. As she would say mangiare, mangiare—eat, eat! (i will attempt to post some photos in the correct sequence http://www.recipezaar.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=259809)

Ingredients

• Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
• Powdered Sugar
• Granulated Sugar
• Vanilla Extract
• Cinnamon Oil
• Milk Chocolate Candy Bars With Almonds
• Eggs
• Ice Water
• Flour
• Salt
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• Ground Cinnamon
• Crisco Shortening
• Egg White
• Peanut Oil

Instructions

1. Three or more days in advance of making the cannoli shells set the ricotta in a colander inside of a large bowl
2. Scrape the ricotta into the colander and cover with plastic wrap
3. Let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for two days, until it is dry
4. To make the dough for cannoli shells: in a small bowl put eggs
5. Beat eggs
6. Add vanilla and ice water to eggs
7. In a large bowl, use your hands to combine the flour, sugar, salt, cocoa, and cinnamon
8. Add the shortening and mix until crumbly
9. Make well in dry mixture and add wet mixture
10. Using your hands mix together, if it is dry, add more ice water
11. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 3 minutes
12. Shape the dough into a flattened ball
13. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for at least 30 to 60 minutes
14. Cut the dough into 4 pieces
15. Starting at the middle setting, run one of the pieces of dough through the rollers of a pasta machine or the dough can be rolled on a board with a rolling pin
16. Lightly dust the dough with flour as needed to keep the pieces from sticking
17. Continue to pass the dough through the machine until you reach the last or second to last setting
18. You might need to run the dough through the pasta machine three times
19. The dough needs to be thin-about the same thickness as construction paper
20. Cut the dough into 4 1 / 2 inch circles
21. Continue rolling out the remaining dough
22. If you do not have enough cannoli tubes for all of the dough, lay the pieces of dough on sheets of plastic wrap and keep them covered until you are ready to use them
23. Put a rack in the bottom of a large heavy kettle that you plan on putting your peanut oil into so that your cannoli shells do not touch the bottom and burn
24. Pour about 2 inches of oil in a smaller kettle
25. Giovanna used 4 quarts but her kettle is huge!
26. Heat oil until a deep frying thermometer shows 375 degrees
27. Oil the cannoli tubes by placing them in the hot oil then draining them in a metal bowl
28. Lay the dough circle flat, center the tube on it, bring left edge onto tube, dab it with egg white, bring up right side of dough circle, dab it with egg white, and roll the tube
29. Do not press the dough
30. You do not want the dough to be too tight on the tube, or you will have difficulty later getting your cannoli off
31. Be careful not to stretch the dough or pull it tightly
32. Avoid, as best as possible, getting egg white on the tube, or the cannoli will stick to it
33. Repeat with the remaining dough
34. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil
35. Do not crowd the pan
36. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly
37. With tongs, remove the cannoli tubes, holding them straight up so that the oil flows back into the pan
38. Then drain the cannoli still on tube briefly in a metal bowl
39. While the cannoli shells are still hot, carefully slide the shells off the tubes by grasping each tube with a clean towel and gently twisting the cannoli shell off the tube with your other hand protected by an oven mitt or towel
40. On another work surface area, lay oilcloth or newspaper, topped with a large rack
41. When the cannoli shells are barely warm set them on top of the rack
42. It is important that the shells stay on the racks overnight
43. Repeat with the remaining dough
44. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough
45. Set aside
46. The cannoli shells can be made up to 2 months before serving if you drain them properly overnight, and store them in sealed containers in a cool, dry place, but not in a refrigerator
47. To make the ricotta cream, put the thoroughly dry ricotta in a large mixing bowl with a wire whip and blend until creamy
48. Add the confectioners sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon oil
49. Blend until smooth
50. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the chocolate pieces
51. Store the ricotta cream in the refrigerator for 48 hours
52. After 48 hours, serve and freeze the rest
53. Frozen ricotta cream can be defrosted in the refrigerator later
54. To assemble, use a knife to push the ricotta cream into the cannoli shell
55. Place the cannoli on a serving platter and sprinkle with confectioners sugar
56. Use within an hour