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 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

Chocolate Cannoli



This is a special recipe for Chocolate Cannoli, including the homemade Chocolate Cannoli shells, and the Chocolate Ricotta filling.

  •  Course Dessert
  •  Cuisine Italian
  •  Keyword cannoli, chocolate
  •  Prep Time 2 hours 30 minutes
  •  Cook Time 1 hour
  •  Resting time 4 hours
  •  Total Time 7 hours 30 minutes
  •  Servings 45 cannoli
  •  Calories 120 kcal

Ingredients

Chocolate Cannoli Shells

  • 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 10.5 oz, 297 grams
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder 1 oz, 30 grams
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar 0.88 oz, 25 grams
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 large egg yolks slightly beaten
  • 2 tbsp butter softened 1 oz, 28 grams
  • 2/3 cup dry white wine or Marsala wine 156 ml

Cannoli Filling

  • 5 cups ricotta cheese store-bought or homemade
  • 2 cups powdered sugar 8.8 oz, 250 grams
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder 3.1 oz, 88 grams
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate

  • 1 cup chopped chocolate, or chocolate chips (6 oz, 170 grams)
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Instructions

To make the dough

  1. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, or any bowl if you plan on kneading by hand.
  2. Add the butter and yolks to the flour mixture.
  3. Slowly start to incorporate the wine, as you stir. And mix with the paddle attachment, or a spoon or fork, to form a ball.
  4. Switch to the dough hook, and begin to knead. Or continue to knead by hand.
  5. Using the dough hook, it should take about 4 minutes to knead the dough. By hand it will take a bit more, from 6 to 8 minutes.
  6. Only add more flour during the kneading process if necessary. After kneading for a while, the dough should become smooth, soft, and it shouldn’t be sticky.
  7. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it well in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
  8. Once the dough rests, remove it from the fridge. It’s time to begin rolling.
  9. You can roll the dough out by hand, or with a pasta machine. Divide the dough into 8 pieces, and work with one piece at a time. If rolling out by hand, you can probably handle larger pieces, but most pasta machines won’t take a huge piece of dough in, which is why I divide mine into 8 pieces.
  10. The dough should be about 1/4″ thick, perhaps slightly thiner. Using the pasta machine, I roll it in each setting once until number 6.
  11. Don’t use too much flour in the rolling process, but use enough so the dough isn’t sticking.
  12. Too much flour will produce a dry and tough dough.
  13. You want to do this process in parts. Roll out about 1/4 of the dough and cut out circles using a 3.5″ inch cutter.
  14. Remember to keep the unused dough covered at all times.
  15. Re-roll the scrapes of dough out and cut more circles out of it.
  16. Once you have a few circles, start wrapping the cannoli tubes.
  17. To wrap the tubes, place each in the middle of a dough circle, roll out the bottom half and lightly dip your finger in water and brush where will be the seam so the other side will seal. Press it to make sure the tube won’t pop open in the fryer.
  18. Heat 4 cups of shortening or oil in a large pan with a heavy bottom, until it registers 350ºF. Start frying the cannoli in batches. Fry for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, and use tongs to flip the cannoli over. With the chocolate shells can be a bit tricky to tell when they are done because they are already dark, so keep an extra eye as you fry.
  19. Once the cannoli have a deep color, remove to a plate or tray lines with paper towel to drain the oil.
  20. Wait a little bit, and use paper towels to gently help remove the shells from the tube. And then proceed to wrap more shells and fry them.
  21. It helps to have more than a few tubes. I can manage doing this with 8 tubes, but often times, I have to turn the heat off the oil so I can have time to catch up with rolling out the dough and cutting out the circles.
  22. Rolling, cutting, wrapping, frying. Repeat until done.
  23. Also remember to have a thermometer clipped to the side of the pan so you can control the temperature of the oil, which should be kept constantly at 350ºF.
  24. Once the shells are cool, place them in an air-tight container, they will keep for up to 4 days, but might not be as fresh as the first 2 days.

To make the Cannoli filling

  1. A few hours or the day before making the filling, line a strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth, and place it over a bowl. Pour the ricotta on the strainer, and cover it with the overhanging cheesecloth. Insert it in the fridge and let it drain for a few hours, squeezing gently if you wish. This is very important because otherwise the filling will be way too wet to be piped in the cannoli.
  2. Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder together.
  3. Add the strained ricotta to the bowl of a mixer. Add the sifted powdered sugar to the bowl. Mix on low until combined.
  4. Add the vanilla extract.
  5. Raise the speed to medium-high and beat the mixture for a couple of minutes, until light, fluffy and creamy.
  6. Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 15 second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted.
  7. Dip the ends of the shells in the chocolate and then sprinkle nuts on top.
  8. Let the shells dry completely before filling.


To assemble

  1. Don’t assemble until you are ready to serve or serve within the next couple hours because if you let the filled cannoli sit, the shell gets soggy. I like to keep the filling in a piping bag inside my fridge and the shells stored in a airtight container on my counter. When ready to serve to my lucky guests, I simply pipe the filling in. Fresh, crispy and delicious! Perfection!
  2. I like to use a large round piping tip (around 1/2” inch) fitted in a large piping bag. Scoop the filling in and pipe from the middle to the outside from both sides.
  3. You can coat the tips in crushed pistachios, or any other nuts or in mini chocolate chips.
  4. Another option is to dip the ends of the shells into melted chocolate and let them dry for a while and once the chocolate is dry, fill with the ricotta.
  5. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the shells for the final touch.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking

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