Francis Ford Coppoloa’s, ‘The Godfather’, is responsible for my primary exposure to the delicate cannoli. Gangster, Peter Clemenza, exits a car on a desolate country road to take a piss, leaving his colleague and enemy (who happens to be the driver) in the car. A gun shot goes off after which his fellow gang mate also exits, the driver remaining behind with the contents of his skull displayed on the steering wheel and windscreen. He is then reminded by Clemenza to return to the car to fetch the intricate package of cannoli he purchased earlier for his wife.
At this stage of my life, I had never heard of nor seen a cannoli (technically cannolo if referring to just one- cannoli is the plural) and my obsession with this film only deepened my determination to taste one! And so I headed to Sicily- home to this little cream-filled pastry tube and of course, Don Vito Corleone, the original Godfather (though some may vouch for Al Pacino as the true godfather).
As soon as that crisp, little pastry shell stuffed with sweet ricotta touched my lips, that was it- I had at least one double helping of cannoli per day for the remainder of the holiday. That was five years ago now and I’ve not tasted any cannoli as good as those in Sicily. They were so impressive that I was too intimidated to make them myself until moving to China, watching the Godfather and really craving one! Albeit, they’re not true to the Sicilian recipe considering there is no ricotta cheese nor any sign of deep-frying, but I will warn you, they are still just as unhealthy!
Pastry shell ingredients:
• 50g sugar
• 50g coconut oil
• 50g ground almonds
• 50g plain flour
• 2 tbsp golden syrup or honey
Method:
- Heat the oil, sugar and honey in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved
- Bring up to boiling point then remove immediately from the heat
- Stir in the flour and almonds to achieve a smooth, creamy, slightly stiff batter
- Place the batter onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper a teaspoon at a time, ensuring there is at least 3 inches of space around the periphery of each circle
- Bake at 180C for 7-10 minutes
- Remove and allow the shells to harden ever so slightly as they will still be bubbling and fluid-like as soon as they come out of the oven
- Using a spachelor, carefully lift them from the tray and wrap the flat case around the end of a kitchen utensil or neck of a wine bottle, or anything that resembles either of these artefacts!
- Once hard, the cases should now be in the form of an open-ended tubular shaped case, ready to be filled
For the filling, I used a recipe that is ordinarily used to make an Indian chickpea flour fudge (a dessert my mum would often make for us). Sounds strange I know! I added more liquid than usual to give it more of a crème pat feel rather than a solid fudge.
Filling ingredients:
• 250g chickpea flour
• 60ml rapeseed oil
• 250g sugar
• 1 pint almond milk
• 7-10 cardamom pods ground
Method:
- In a saucepan, combine the oil and chickpea flour and roast for 5 minutes whilst stirring
- Whilst still on the heat, add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly to get rid of any lumps and bring to the boil. The mixture will still be quite runny at this point
- Continue to heat and stir for at least another 10 minutes to cook the chickpea flour and thicken the mix
- Once cooled it will thicken a bit more, but will still be at the appropriate consistency to either pipe or spoon the creamy mixture into the shells
Now you can sit back, relax, sip on a limoncello and eat cannoli like there’s no tomorrow!
