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Sicilian Cannoli with Homemade Ricotta

Sicilian Cannoli with Homemade Ricotta

by | Jul 8, 2013 | 4 comments

Ah, cannoli. How your deep-fried pastry flecked with crispy bubbles and stuffed with fluffy ricotta has stolen my heart forever. Oh, I had seen you from a distance, in pictures, of course, and admired your soft dusting of snowy icing sugar, and imagined the crunch of your pastry crumbling into the smooth creamy filling, but never did I realize just what I was missing out on. Silly of me really, considering that all things deep-fried and stuffed with cheese are delicious. That's a given.

As you may have noticed recently, my blog posts have had a decidedly Italian twist to them which may or may not have something to do with an Italian man in my life. While I have yet to school him in South African malva poeding, koeksisters and melktert, mostly because I don't have time, he has not-so-subtly been teaching me the art of Sicilian cooking. Probably so I can cook for him. Sneaky I tell you! Italian's are fiercely proud of their regional specialities and Siciliy is known for, among other things, their cannoli where the pastry was invented. The first thing I learnt about this delicacy is: two cannoli, one cannolo. Get it right. The name means 'little tube' which not surprisingly refers to it's shape. But, wait, it gets more complicated because different sizes have different names. Some are small and no bigger than a finger while others (like the cannoli from Palermo) are as big as a hand.

Proper Sicilian cannoli, I'm told, is always made with homemade ricotta cheese made from sheep's milk. But because you won't catch me milking a sheep in a million years, cow's milk will do (and no I didn't milk that myself either). The trick to a deliciously creamy filling (one that doesn't make the cannoli shells go soggy too quickly), is to make the ricotta a few days beforehand and hang it in muslin cloth to get rid of as much moisture as possible. (I know, I know, I hear you, 'a few days' is a pain, but we're talking traditional here. If you want to cut the corner, then do so, just don't tell an Italian you did.)

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

 

1 litre full cream milk

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

 

Slowly bring milk and salt to a rolling boil in a large saucepan. Add lemon juice and stir constantly over low heat until the mixture curdles. Carefully scoop out the curds using a sieve or fine slotted spoon. Pour the remaining mixture into a sieve lined with muslin cloth and let it drain for 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Discard the liquid.

Now for the best part, the cannoli! I would suggest making these on a weekend, and definitely invite a group of friends over because you'll want the "oooh's and aaah's" as a reward for your hard work. Unless, of course, the heavenly taste of the cannoli is enough, then by all means curl up on the couch with the whole batch and devour them. Just be sure to have a glass of red wine afterwards, because as Italian tells me, that's the secret to staying slim (and I'm not about to argue with that logic!)

Cannoli

Makes 25-30

 

300g cake flour

30g butter, softened

15g The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder

1 tsp ground coffee

1 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

1 glass white wine or marsala

1 egg white, for brushing

oil, for deep-frying

 

Filling

500g ricotta cheese

500ml milk

1 bay leaf

2 cloves

1 stick cinnamon

40g cornstarch

125g castor sugar

3/4 cup The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate Chips or The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, chopped 

1 tsp ground cinnamon

 

Candied orange rind, to decorate

Icing sugar, to dust

 

Combine the flour, butter, cocoa, coffee sugar and salt then gradually add the white wine or marsala until a stiff pliable dough forms (the dough should be a similar consistency to pasta dough). Knead the dough until smooth and elastic then cover and rest for 10 minutes. Slice off pieces of dough and roll through a floured pasta machine starting at the largest setting and working your way through the notches until your each size 4 thickness. Cut out circles of dough using a cookie cutter or cup then wrap around a cannoli mould or wooden stick. Overlap the edges and stick them together with a little egg white. Continue until all the dough has been used up. Heat the oil to 180 degrees celcius and deep-fry the cannoli, in batches, until deep-golden brown. Drain on paper towel and allow to cool.

Now for the filling: Heat the milk gently with the bay leaf, cloves and cinnamon until just simmering. Add a little water to the cornstarch to make a thin paste then gradually whisk the paste into the warm milk, whisking continuously until thick. Add the sugar. Simmer for a few minutes until cooked before spreading on a baking tray to cool. Pass the ricotta cheese through a fine sieve to get a smooth mixture. Mix in the cooled white sauce (remove the spices) and stir well. Add the chocolate chips and cinnamon powder. Place the filling into a piping bag and pipe into each cannoli. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with candied orange rind, if desired. Serve immediately.

TIP  The cannoli shells can be stored for up to a month in an airtight container. To get them super crispy again, pop the shells into the oven for a few minutes. The ricotta filling can be frozen - simply freeze the mixture in a ziplock bag.

Copycat Cronuts with Orange Blossom Glaze

Copycat Cronuts with Orange Blossom Glaze

by | May 26, 2013 | 0 comments

If you're in any way as obsessed with baking and desserts as I am, you will have already heard about all the fuss that's being made over a trendy new confection that's tipped to kick the cupcake off it's pretty little throne (although, let's be honest, the same thing was said about macarons, cake pops and whoopie pies and yet we still adore the good ol' cupcake). Dubbed the 'cronut' (it's already trademarked by the way) this hybrid dessert sensation has caused quite a stir. Half-croissant and half-doughnut, it sure does have a bit of an identity crisis but the New Yorkers queuing around the block at Dominique Ansel Bakery don't seem to care as these deep-fried delicacies sell-out in minutes each day. There is even a limit as to how many you can buy! French pastry chef, Dominique apparently had to try 10 different recipes before getting the creation spot-on and his perseverance is clearly paying off. But since I draw the line at flying half way round the world to taste a dessert, I attempted to create my own cronuts. You know, so I could see what all the fuss was about.

If you've made croissants from scratch before, you'll know that it takes an incredible amount of love, patience and muscle. And butter. Lots and lots of butter. But the problem with all that butter (incase you didn't know, half the weight of a croissant is made up of it - eeeek!) is that if you were to deep-fry the dough just like that, as Dominique's recipe (and name) suggests, it's low melting point means it would just seep out into your oil when frying and you'd land up with a flat mess. So, I used margarine. First problem solved.

The second problem was the fact that, although the cronuts claim to be made from croissant dough, the texture in all the pictures resembles that of danish dough instead. Croissant dough, as I experienced, contains way too much fat, which makes it incredibly oily, as I discovered. So, that meant reducing the amount of fat in the dough.

There were a few more problems I encountered but I won't go in to detail as by now I'm pretty sure you just want to see the recipe don't you? Well, here it is, the recipe for Kronuts (my version of Cronuts).

P.S. My verdict? Personally, I think these things are not for the faint-hearted. Essentially it's fat deep-fried in more fat and after just one my arteries were screaming. I baked a few rather than frying them (yes, I know that doesn't really make them a 'doughnut') and they were delicious (and far more healthy!).

Copycat Cronuts with Vanilla Cream and Orange Blossom Glaze

Makes 50 small 

 

Roll-in

350g baking margarine (I used Stork Bake)

40g cake flour (or pastry flour)

15g cornstarch/cornflour

50g fresh yeast

400g lukewarm water

100g granulated sugar

100g margarine

20g salt

1kg cake flour

Oil, for deep-frying (I used vegetable oil but Dominique uses grapeseed oil)

 

Vanilla pastry cream

500ml milk

1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped

4 egg yolks

80g castor sugar

40g cornflour

500ml cream, whipped

 

Glaze

1 egg white

2 cups icing sugar, sifted (plus more, if necessary)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp orange blossom water

 

Start by making the roll-in. Mix the margarine and flours well then spread out onto a sheet of cling wrap. Spread out roughly then top with another sheet of cling wrap. Using a rolling pin, roll the fat out until 1/2cm thick to make 30 x 20cm rectangle. Close the ends of the cling wrap and place in the freezer until hard. In the meantime, prepare the dough by mixing the yeast and water in a mixing bowl. Cover and place in a warm place until frothy. Then add the rest of the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer using the dough hook attachment. Add the flour gradually to form a stiff dough (depending on the gluten content of your flour, you may use more or less, so adding it gradually is important.) Knead for about 4 minutes then allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes. Roll the dough out on a floured surface to 1cm thick then place the chilled butter roll-in on top. Do a simple 3-fold (like folding a business letter) and roll out again to 1cm thick. Cover and place in the freezer to rest for 20 minutes. Roll the dough out once again to 1cm thick then do another 3-fold. Rest again in the freezer for 20 minutes before doing the last fold and rest. Roll the dough out again to 1cm thick and cut out with a round cookie cutter and a smaller one, to create the hole in the centre. Place the pastry circles onto a lined and floured baking sheet, cover lightly and allow to proof in a warm place until doubled in size. Preheat the oil to 165C and deep-fry the cronuts in batches until golden and puffed. Drain on paper towel and allow to cool completely. If you would like to dredge them in sugar, do so while hot. If, like me, you would like to bake them, bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 10-15 minutes or until golden and puffed. To make the pastry cream, heat the milk and vanilla until just below boiling point. Cream yolks, sugar and flour then gradually pour in the hot milk while whisking. Return the mixture to the pot and cook, while stirring until thick. Place in a bowl, cover the surface with clingwrap and allow to cool completely before folding in the whipped cream. Place the cream in a piping bag with a small plain nozzle. To make the glaze, whisk the egg white slightly then add enough icing sugar to form a stiff paste. Add the lemon juice and orange blossom water. To assemble, poke 3 holes in the bottom of each cronut with a chopstick or knife then pipe pastry cream into the bottom of each. Dip the tops in the glaze and allow to set. Serve immediately.