Bake of the Week: Sicilian cannoli by Ursula Ferrigno

WE have got a slightly more ambitious bake for you to try this week – but the results are worth it. Cannoli is a famous Sicilian dessert.

You can buy cannoli tubes from kitchen shops, but with a bit of care you can create the tubes using spoons. Fill the tubes just before serving so they remain crisp.

You’ll need:

25g unsalted butter
1 egg white
55g caster sugar
25g Italian ‘00’ flour
1 tsp cocoa powder

FILLING

55g ricotta
1 tbsp caster sugar
25g dark 70% chocolate
25g shelled pistachio nuts, chopped
zest of half a lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of cinnamon
icing sugar and cocoa powder, for dusting

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas mark 5/375F.

For the pastry, melt the butter and leave to cool. Whisk the egg white until stiff, then fold in the sugar.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder over the egg mixture and fold in.

Trickle the butter around the sides of the bowl and fold in.

Put 1tbsp of batter on to greased baking sheet and spread to a circle about 10cm in diameter. Repeat with the rest of the batter, making two circles per baking sheet.

Bake for seven minutes until firm to the touch. Slide a palette knife under each circle, then loosely wrap around the handle of a wooden spoon, creating a tube.

Put the ricotta in a bowl and mix in the sugar. Grate the chocolate and fold in, along with the nuts, lemon zest, vanilla and cinnamon.

Using a piping bag with a plain nozzle, fill the bag with the ricotta mixture and use to stuff the tubes. Alternatively, spoon carefully into the tubes.

Dust with icing sugar and cocoa powder and serve immediately.