Cannoli Cilentani
Many people are not aware that there is another type of cannoli that originates from a town just outside of Salerno called Cilento. These cannoli are filled with Lemon and Chocolate cream. My family rolls the shell in cinnamon sugar while others just dust them with powdered sugar. They are what Italians like to call “Fatt’in casa” and you will not find them in pastry shops. These are the cannoli I grew up eating whenever we had a celebration or holiday.
Cannoli Cilentani
A cannoli filled with pastry cream from the town of Cilento.
Equipment
- Cannoli Molds
- 2 Pastry Piping Bags with Star tip
Ingredients
- 250 g AP Flour
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 tbsp Lard or Shortening
- 1/4 cup White Wine If dough seems dry wet add a splash of white
- Pinch of salt
Pastry Cream
- 4 Large Egg Yolks
- 4 cups Warm Milk
- 2/3 cup Granulated Sugar
- 90 g AP Flour
- 4 Lemon Peels
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/3 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate (can be chips)
Dusting
- 1/4 cup Confectioner's Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
Pastry Cream
- To a bowl, add sugar and egg yolks. Mix with a hand mixer until light in color.
- Add flour in a little at a time, mixing well with each addition.
- Once you have added all the flour, slowly add the warm milk mixing well with each addition.
- Once all the milk has been added, transfer the mixture to a sauce pan, add lemon peels and cook on medium heat until thickened.
- Pour out half the mixture into another bowl and add chocolate and Vanilla extract. Stir to melt the chocolate and mix well.
- Remove the lemon peels from the cream and pour each cream into a separate bowl and cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Place into the refrigerator to set.
Cannoli Dough
- Sift the flour onto a kneading surface. Make a well in the center and add the egg, lard, salt and white wine into the well.
- Start with a fork by whisking the ingredients and slowly incorporating the flour. Continue until you cannot mix with a fork any longer, then switch to your hands.
- Knead the dough until it comes together and becomes smooth. It should be the same consistency when making fresh pasta. Not soft and sticky. Wrap it in plastic and let it rest for 30 mins.
- Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Using a manual pasta roller or a kitchenmaid attachment, roll the dough out through the machine. Starting at the 1st setting work the dough through a few times, folding it and running it through 2-3 times to smooth it out. Continue to work the dough through each thickness setting once until your reach 1/16 inch thickness. On my kitchenaid attachment it is the #5 thickness.
- Once you have sheets, cut them into 4 in x 4 in squares. Using a cannoli mold, place the mold corner to corner and loosely wrap the dough around the mold making sure to seal the seam by wetting your finger with water and pressing together so they don't pop open when frying. Make sure the cannoli shell doesn't stick to the mold or it will get stuck and the cannoli will break when you try to remove the tube! I speak from experience lol!
- Into a pot, add oil 3/4 of the way up the pot. Heat the oil to 375℉. Fry in batches, and using a spider strainer hold the cannoli down under the oil until golden brown. Remove with spider strainer and place onto a wire rack to drain.
- Once they have cooled a bit pull the cannoli mold out.
- Add 1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to a bowl and mix.
- Add the pastry cream to a piping bag with a star tip. Pipe lemon cream on one side and chocolate cream on the other. Using a small strainer, dust the cannoli with the cinnamon sugar. Serve Immediately. If not serving immediately, do not fill them they will become soggy. Store the shells in a sealed container and then fill them right before serving.
