I have to say I hadn’t never heard of the cannoli siciliani before attempting this cooking project. As I started researching popular Italian recipes, I took note of those that popped up more often. The cannoli were one of those. I looked further into them and I just loved the concept and the presentation of the sweet/desert.
Those colorful tips with pistachio nuts looked lovely. Later on, as I’d start looking for general recipes and vegan versions, I noticed that the original ones were fried 😁. That was no option for me. First, because IMO it’s not a healthy cooking method. And second — and most importantly– because I’m scared to death of frying anything. I’d never try that! So, that narrow my search to recipes that were baked in the oven 😊.
Recipe of the Week: Cannoli Siciliani
One of the reasons I chose the recipe below (besides being baked instead of fried), was the filing: a vegan ricotta made out of almonds.
Here’s the recipe of the almond-based ricotta cheese. It’s very easy to do and quite versatile. I can see myself using this ricotta for a lasagna or even a “tarta de ricota” (as we do them in Argentina).
One thing I’d need to figure out was what I was going to use instead of the canes (I assumed I wouldn’t get wood cane, like bamboo cane). Buying steel forms was definitely an option, but I wanted to see if I could solve the problem on my own. Okay, on my own and with a little help from my friends… from YouTube 😁. I found out a nice video on Italian and just went the DIY way:
The recipe was quite fun to do (especially the DIY canes!). Before even getting started I looked forward to decorating the cannoli. I think that’s one of my favorite parts of cooking.
The pastry had a dark color because of the cocoa powder. In the recipe, they said you could use “cooked wine” (vino cotto) if you had it, instead of cocoa. I used cocoa!
I think the oven was not high enough when I cooked the canes, as it was taking much more than the 20 minutes the recipe asked for, to have them ready. Even after 30 or more minutes, they didn’t look quite right. As a result, they weren’t as crunchy as I would have liked. If I do this recipe again in the future, I’ll put the oven higher!
The ricotta filling was just great. It’s basically: almond ricotta, cane sugar, lemon zest, and a bit of vanilla extract. Simple and effective. I’d say this could be perfectly fine as the filling of a “tarta de ricota”, just like that.
The final touch is with the chocolate chips and the crushed pistachio nuts on both tips. And that’s pretty much it!
Here are my DIY cannoli canes:
New Vocabulary
I added 7 new cards to my Anki deck, based on new words and expressions used on the YouTube video used for this recipe. There were some words in this list that I already know, but I want to reinforce. I used the Google Chrome extension “Learning Languages with YouTube” (from the same creators of “Learning Languages with Netflix”).
That’s all for now! 😊
