We made Cannolis with fresh ricotta cheese and homemade shells. For the filling we made the ricotta by bringing the milk, heavy cream and salt to a simmer (not boil) and then adding 1/2 cup of white vinegar. When the milk it heated it becomes foamy on the top and the milk becomes thicker. When you add the vinegar it binds the proteins of the milk together and leaves the left over liquid that was in the milk to settle on the bottom. For the shell we combines a 1/2 cup of white wine, and Tbsp of sugar, 2 cups of flour, a 1/4 tsp of salt, a 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, 2 Tbsp of butter and an egg yolk. We flattened the dough to a millimeter and rolled it around a stainless steel rod. You them put it in the fryer that is filled with canola oil and heated to 360 degrees. The dough quickly forms a thin crust which prevents any access oil from entering the food. The oil left inside of the dough cooks the remaining interior, resulting in a crispy shell. After removing it from the hot pipe, we let it sit to cool before filling it. The filling was made from the ricotta mixed with powdered sugar, vanilla and chocolate chips.
Everything went well in the recipe. The only problem we had was the shell sticking to the stainless steel rod. We quickly discovered that you needed vegetable oil to be sprained on the rod in order for the dough not to stick. Another thing that we could have done was leave the cheese to drain for longer. Because we were short on time, the cheese didn't have time to form into its typical smooth texture.
As you can see, the 1st grade class that ate our cannolis liked our homemade shells more than the shells we had gotten at the store.
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