Lemon and pistachio cannoli | Uncategorised recipes | Jamie magazine (2025)

FAQs

Is mascarpone or ricotta better for cannoli? ›

Cannoli is traditionally made with ricotta, but some people prefer mascarpone. It simply depends on your personal preference.

Here are a few distinctions: The Venetian shell is in a cylinder shape while the Sicilian shell looks like a bow tie wrap. While the Sicilian dough is deep-fried, the Venetian dough is baked. The traditional Venetian filling is made of heavy cream cheese mixed with vanilla bean.

Ricotta is the backbone of cannoli, and if it's not delicious enough to eat by the spoonful, your cannoli will be doomed to mediocrity from the start.

To make the filling, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then beat in the ricotta, mascarpone and yoghurt until smooth. Fold in the zest from 2 lemons and the juice from 1, then finely chop and add the candied peel and 25g of the pistachios (saving the rest to serve).

THE BEST RICOTTA CHEESE:

A huge component of this Homemade Cannoli Cream is, of course, the delicious Galbani® Ricotta Cheese. This rich and creamy cheese can be found in your local market's dairy aisle and is the perfect cheese to use for a delicious and rich cannoli cream.

Over time recipes have begun using powdered sugar as both the sweetener and to stabilize the watery ricotta, but this, in turn, makes the filling a grainy and overwhelmingly sweet pastry cream. To fix this dilemma, I use a mixture of ricotta, mascarpone, goat cheese with granulated sugar.

Cannoli is a Sicilian pastry consisting of a tube-shaped shell of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling containing ricotta cheese. Its size ranges from 9 to 20 centimetres (31⁄2 to 8 in). In mainland Italy, it is commonly known as cannolo siciliano ( lit. 'Sicilian cannoli'). Cannoli.

“Holy” Cannoli are a Sicilian dessert. Sicilian pastry chefs form and fry dough rounds, they then fill them with a ricotta filling or sometimes, a cream filling. They are absolutely delicious, not too sweet and are just fun to eat treats.

Traditionally, cannoli filling is a sweet, simple filling made with ricotta cheese and powdered sugar.

A sour smell coming from the ricotta or the taste of stale oil from the shell is a sign that the cannoli needs to be discarded. And of course, evolving microbial colonies such as mold are definitive signs that the cannoli has gone bad.

How do you firm up cannoli filling? ›

Cornstarch only binds when heated. If the cannoli filling is too thin and runny, take two tablespoonfuls of the filling and place in a glass bowl. Add 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Heat in microwave 45 seconds, stir until smooth texture and add to the filling.

We recommend two cannoli per person. Assortments can be customized with a one dozen minimum per flavor.

One reason that could explain why the Italian staple pistachios are so incredibly popular is that their sweet, delicate, and oily taste is excellent and perfect as a flavouring for sauces, sweets, pastries, and gelato. Arguably, many fruits and nuts have the same purpose, so why are pistachios so special?

Worst: Cannoli

The filling is full of more fat and calories, in the form of ricotta cheese and sugar.

You can replace marsala with the same amount of Madeira using a simple 1:1 ratio. Use madiera as a marsala wine substitute for cannoli or in authentic tiramisu. It will give your sweets that nutty, caramel flavor that you are looking for with just a hint of fruitiness.

Texture: Ricotta has a grainy texture, like cottage cheese, and mascarpone has a smooth, creamy texture, similar to heavy whipping cream. Mascarpone is a more spreadable cheese than ricotta. Taste: Ricotta is brighter and more acidic than mascarpone. Mascarpone has a slightly sweet, milky flavor.

I tested my way through a ton of different cannoli forms, from aluminum to non-stick, and these tapered, carbon steel forms were far and away the best. Their subtle taper makes the cannoli easy to release, without giving the shells an overly conical form.