Cannoli-oli-oli (Daring Bakers)

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

I had mixed feelings about this months DB’s challenge.  On one hand, I looooove cannoli (every time we are in an Italian restaurant or pastry shop, my father and I have to share a cannoli).  On the other hand, I detest frying in my current kitchen.  Don’t get me wrong; I have no fears about frying (Husband’s friends nicknamed me Latke Julie, after all)… but the kitchen in our condo faces the inside of the building, so there are no windows and no proper ventilation system to the outside.  As I know well from my yearly latke-fest, the scent of frying oil lingers in my condo for DAYS, and it takes over the whole place – even my clothes in my closet reek of oil.  It is truly disgusting.

But, since I have already missed my maximum number of passes for DB challenges, I forged ahead.  As I have mentioned before, I have zero room for “kitchen stuff”, so I passed on ordering actual cannoli forms which would require storage somewhere.  Instead, I put my thinking cap on and forraged, eventually cutting apart the handle of an old Swiffer which I needed to replace anyway.  Worked like a charm!

As far as the cannoli, they were delicious, but oh-so-rich.  I went for a banana filling – sliced bananas stuffed in the cannoli, and added banana extract to the filling mixture.  DELICIOUS.  Since I didn’t make enough to feed the entire lab, I wound up eating two and threw away the rest.  My waistline thanks me.  And my condo will be thankful if no more Daring Bakers/Daring Cooks challenges require frying!

Cannoli Shells

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened baking cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup wine
• egg white from one large egg
• 2 quarts vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

1. Using an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt.  Stir in the oil and vinegar, and just enough wine to make a soft dough.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended.  Shape the dough into a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight.
2. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until very thin, no more than 1/8” thick.  Cut out 3 to 5 inch circles (I used the rim of a glass as I don’t have round cookie cutters).  Roll the cut circle into an oval.
3. Oil the outside of the cannoli forms.  Roll the dough oval from the long side around each form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap.  Press well to seal.  Set aside to allow the egg white to dry.
4. In a deep, heavy saucepan, poor 3” of oil.  Heat the oil to 375F with a candy thermometer.
5. Carefully lower a few cannoli tubes into the hot oil.  Do not crowd the pan.  Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so they will brown evenly.
6. Lift a cannoli form with a slotted spoon out of the oil.  Using tongs, grasp the cannoli form at one end.  Very carefully, remove the cannoli form with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan.  Place the form on paper towels to drain.  While still hot, grasp the form with a potholder and pull the cannoli off the form with a pair of tongs.  Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels.  Place shells on cooking rack until ready to fill.
7. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough.  If reusing canoli forms, allow them to cool before re-wrapping with dough.

Cannoli Filling

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ricotta cheese, drained
• 1 2/3 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon banana extract
• banana slices
• melted chocolate, for shells

Directions:

1. Line a strainer with cheesecloth.  Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a towel.  Weigh it down with a heavy can and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator overnight.
2. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat the ricotta until smooth and creamy.  Beat in the confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and banana extracts until smooth.  Chill until firm.
3. Melt chocolate over a double burner.  Dip ends of cannoli in chocolate.
4. Place sliced bananas in the center of the cooled cannoli.  Add filling mixture to a ziploc bag, snip off the corner, and squirt into the tube (or use a pastry bag if you have one).  Drizzle melted chocolate over the cannoli.  ENJOY!

Boston Recommendations

Later this month, I will be heading up to Boston for the AACR Molecular Targets & Cancer Therapeutics meeting.  It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to Boston – the last time was the summer between graduating high school and starting college!  I’ll be in the Back Bay area, so if anyone has any suggestions for things to do in the evening (or during less interesting sessions!) or places I should eat, let me know!

Also, if anyone else is either attending the conference or a permanent resident of Boston, send me an email if you are interested in perhaps trying to meet up while I am there!