Cannoli — crisp, fried pastry tubes filled with sweetened ricotta cream, studded with chocolate chips or candied fruit — are the Sicilian-American dessert that became the defining pastry of Italian-American bakeries. The technique is Sicilian: the dough (flour, sugar, lard, Marsala wine, vinegar, cocoa powder in some traditions) is rolled thin, wrapped around metal tubes, and fried until crisp. The filling is fresh ricotta mixed with powdered sugar, vanilla, and usually mini chocolate chips or candied citrus peel. The cannolo (*cannoli* is already plural) must be filled immediately before serving — a pre-filled cannolo that sits for an hour is a soggy tube, not a cannoli.
A fried pastry shell — cylindrical, 12-15cm long, with a crisp, bubbly surface — filled at both ends with sweetened ricotta cream. The shell should shatter when bitten — audibly crisp. The filling should be cool, smooth, sweet, and speckled with chocolate chips. The ends should be dipped in chopped pistachios, chocolate chips, or candied orange peel.
1) Fill at the last moment — the moisture from the ricotta cream softens the shell within minutes. 2) The ricotta must be drained — fresh ricotta contains too much moisture. Hang it in cheesecloth overnight to remove excess whey. 3) The shell dough contains wine (Marsala) and/or vinegar — the acid prevents excessive gluten development, keeping the fried shell crisp rather than bready. 4) Fry at 175°C until deeply golden and bubbly.
"Leave the gun, take the cannoli" — the most famous food line in American cinema (*The Godfather*), which cemented the cannoli's place in the American cultural imagination. Mike's Pastry and Modern Pastry in Boston's North End; Ferrara in NYC's Little Italy — the cannoli institutions. The Sicilian original uses sheep's-milk ricotta; the American version uses cow's-milk. Both are legitimate.
Pre-filling — the #1 cannoli crime. A soggy shell is unforgivable. Undrained ricotta — thin, watery filling. Using the wrong ricotta — full-fat, fresh ricotta only. Fat-free or part-skim produces a grainy filling.
Arthur Schwartz — Arthur Schwartz's New York City Food; Nick Malgieri — Great Italian Desserts