Dark Chocolate, Coffee And Blood Orange Cannoli
Ingredients
Makes 24
For the pastry:
- 250g tipo 00 flour
- 20g unsalted butter
- 15g caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon espresso coffee
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
- 1 egg
- pinch of salt
- squeeze of lemon juice
- splash of white wine
- oil for deep-frying
For the filling:
- 500g ricotta
- 250g caster sugar
- 60g 60-70% chocolate
- ¼ vanilla pod
For the decoration:
- 50g caster sugar
- 50ml water
- 1 blood orange
- 1 tablespoon coffee beans
- 25g pistachio nuts (optional)
Cooking instructions
To shape the cannoli you will need some tin cannoli moulds or bamboo canes about 2.5cm thick and 15cm long.
Make the pastry
- Put the flour, butter, sugar, coffee, cocoa, egg and salt in a food processor and pulse until just combined. Add a little lemon juice and white wine and pulse until a dough forms. Remove from the machine, wrap in cling film and leave the pastry to rest in the fridge for half an hour.
Make the filling
- Put the ricotta and sugar in a bowl. Chop the chocolate and scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and add them both to the bowl. Mix well with a whisk or fork. For a really fluffy texture, pass the mixture through a sieve if you like. Chill until ready to serve.
Make the decoration
- Combine the caster sugar and water in a small saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Pare the zest from the orange, then cut it into very fine strips. Add to the pan then bring to a simmer and cook until the strips of zest are soft, about 8-10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, blitz the coffee beans until coarsely ground and finely chop the pistachios (if using). Set them aside.
- Remove the candied zest from the syrup and leave to drain on kitchen paper.
Cook the cannoli
- Heat the oil to 180°C in a deep-fryer or tall heavy pan. The oil should come no more than a third of the way up the sides of the pan.
- Roll the pastry out thinly on lightly floured work surface. Cut into circles about 12cm in diameter. Working with as many cannoli moulds as you have, wrap the pastry circles around the moulds to make cylinders, brushing with water to help seal the edges.
- Fry the cannoli a few at a time until golden brown (no more than 2 minutes), then transfer them to kitchen paper to drain, removing the moulds carefully.
Finish and serve
- Spoon the ricotta filling into a piping bag and pipe it into the cooled pastry cylinders. Dip the ends into the blitzed coffee beans and/or chopped pistachios. Sprinkle with the candied orange zest before serving.