Pastry Baked Cannoli With Two Creamy Fillings Recipes

CREAMY HOMEMADE BAKED CANNOLI

Steps:

• Place Ricotta cheese in cheese cloth or in a sieve over a bowl and refrigerate for 24 hours. It has to drain as long as possible to remove excess moisture.Remove from fridge and with a spatula over a clean bowl push the ricotta through the sieve (remove from cheesecloth and place in a sieve). This will make it nice and creamy, add sugar a little at a time and taste until desired sweetness (I used 1/2 cup of sugar you may want more or less). Fold in chocolate chips. Place filling in a pastry bag with a large tip and fill tarts, make sure to fill tarts just before serving. You could also fill tarts using a spoon. Top with powdered/icing sugar or extra chips if desired. Enjoy!
• In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa and cinnamon, make a well in the middle and add butter (start with 1 tablespoon if too dry add the remaining tablespoon), egg and wine mixing with a fork. Bring it together to form a dough. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes.Pre-heat oven to 350°, lightly grease and flour 15 cannoli tubes or even mini tarts. Or make your own tubes with rolled up pieces of foil.Roll dough out very thin** and cut with a round cookie cutter (medium size) to fill muffin tins, prick the bottom of the tarts with a fork a couple of times, then top each tart with a square of parchment paper and fill with dry beans. If using cannoli tubs, wrap the pastry so that it overlaps and seal by brushing with a little egg white (beat slightly).Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until pastry is golden. Let cool completely before coating or dipping with chocolate and nuts.
• Break chocolate into pieces and melt (either microwave or place chocolate in a small bowl and place over a small pot of boiling water make sure water does not touch bowl with chocolate).Let cool a little then coat each tart with chocolate. Set aside to harden.

PASTRY BAKED CANNOLI WITH TWO CREAMY FILLINGS

Steps:

• Make the Pie Dough . Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lightly grease cannoli or foil cylinders.
• Remove the dough from the fridge (this recipe is for half the dough so leftover dough can be frozen or double the recipe).
• Roll out the pastry to approximately 1/8 inch thickness, Cut into long strips and wrap around traditional cannoli cylinders or make your own with aluminum foil**.
• Bake in a pre heated oven at 350 F (180C) for approximately 15-20 minutes or until golden. Let cool enough to handle and gently remove from cylinders. Let cool completely on a wire rack before filling. Enjoy!

CANNOLI WITH PASTRY CREAM FILLING RECIPE

Steps:

• In a small sauce pan, heat milk, a strip of lemon zest and vanilla extract. Do not bring to a boil. Set aside.
• In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until smooth. Add flour and whisk.
• Pour half of the warm milk into the egg mixture and whisk until incorporated.
• Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan with the remaining milk. Place on the burner over medium-high heat and whisk continuously until it comes to a gentle boil and thickens, about 5 minutes.
• Remove and discard the strip of lemon zest.
• To ensure your pastry cream is completely smooth and free of lumps, force it through a fine mesh sieve over a bowl.
• Place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream in order to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until completely cooled, about 2 hours.
• While the pastry cream cools prepare the shells by stirring together all-purpose flour and sugar in a large bowl.
• Make a well in the center and pour in the milk; red wine; vegetable oil and egg.
• Use a fork to whisk the wet ingredients and slowly begin incorporating the flour into the wet ingredients to form a dough. Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.
• This dough does not require a resting period and can be rolled out immediately. Divide the dough into 4 pieces, keep the remaining pieces covered to prevent the dough from drying.
• Use a pasta roller (or rolling pin) to roll out the sheets of dough until the second to last setting. Lightly sprinkle your sheets with all-purpose flour as needed if they are sticky. Keep the sheets of dough covered to prevent from drying.
• Cut the dough into 4 inch rounds with a cookie cutter or any other household item of similar size. For years my mom used a mug with a 4 inch opening.
• Reroll any scraps of dough and cut out more circles.
• Wrap the dough around the cannoli molds and seal both ends with egg white (reserve an egg white from the pastry cream). This is crucial to prevent them from unwrapping from the molds during frying.
• Fill a deep heavy bottomed pot (or use a fryer if you have one) with about 2 inches of vegetable oil. Heat the oil.
• In order to verify if the oil is hot enough try out my mom's easy method: place the end of a wooden spoon directly in the middle of the pot, if the oil immediately bubbles and sizzles around the handle it's ready for frying.
• Fry 3 or 4 cannoli shells at a time until golden. Avoid overcrowding your pot as you may have to hold them down to ensure that all sides are evenly fried. They sometimes roll over when you try to flip them!
• The shells are ready when they are golden and bubbly. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate or tray.
• Use two paper towels to carefully separate the cannoli molds from the shell (be careful, they will be extremely hot!). Wrap more dough around the molds and continue fry the remaining pieces of dough.
• Fill the cannoli shells once they are completely cooled.
• Place the cooled cannoli cream in a pastry bag with a star or round tip attachment. Alternately use a freezer bag with the tip cut off.
• Pipe the cream at both ends of each cannoli shell making sure that the cream reaches the center of the shell.
• Dust with powdered sugar (optional) and sprinkle some chopped pistachios and chocolate chips or grated chocolate (optional) on each end.
• Fill up to 4 hours prior to serving to ensure the shell stays crisp. Refrigerate the filled cannoli shells.