Sunday, December 12, 2010

Holiday Cannoli: Store-made Shell, Homemade Filling

Happy Holidays!

So my husband wanted to bring Cannoli's, his favorite dessert, to his work holiday party. He didn't want to be consumed with all of the work involved in making them (it was a weeknight), so he decided to stop by the grocery store and pick up the Cannoli shells from the bakery and we would make the filling ourselves.

25 Mini Cannoli Shells
He brought home 25 mini Cannoli shells and we began setting up the assembly line.

Cannoli making assembly line
In order to make the chocolate chip filled Cannoli's with crushed pistachio nut ends, we set out all of the items needed for the process: Cannoli shells, ricotta cheese, chocolate chips, and pistachio nuts.

Step 1: Take the ricotta cheese out of the tub and put it in a thin towel or cheesecloth.

Ricotta cheese out of container and into the towel.
Step 2: Squeeze out excess liquid.


Step 3: Mix 1 large tub ricotta cheese with a tsp cinnamon, tsp nutmeg, tsp vanilla, tsp Kahlua, and 1 cup chocolate chips. Place in plastic bag and snip corner to allow ricotta cheese to be piped into the shells.


Step 4: Pipe ricotta cheese into Cannoli shells.


Step 5: Shell pistachio nuts, put in coffee grinder and crush them for 15 or so seconds. Place them in a small dish.

Step 6: Dip filled Cannoli shell ends into crushed Pistachio nuts for the finished product.

Finished Cannoli's!

Enjoy!

Holiday Hint: Even the most complex holiday desserts can be attainable with a some relief from Santa's Little Helpers... i.e. the grocery store baking staff :)