Kannoli

When I was little, every other Saturday, I used to wake up with the noise of a fairly young man and his horse shouting  'Rikotta Helwa' which means 'Sweet Ricotta'. In our village, it was very popular to see sellers with their horse, or even donkey pulling wooden carts selling home made produce, like pickles, flowers, and in this case naturally sweet ricotta.  Later on in life, I saw Tevye selling milk in Fiddler on the Roof and each time I watch him singing and pouring milk, cannot help but return to my sweet childhood memories of this 'man' selling his deliscious ricotta. The following recipe is a tribute to my Aunt Karm, who eagerly bought this creamy delicacy and made Kannoli taste so special.

For the Pastry
300g plain flour
Juice of 1 orange
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch salt

For the Filling
500g Ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons candied peel
2 tablespoons icing sugar
2 tablespoons Anisette Ouzo or Sambuca
100g chopped chocolate
2 tablespoons chopped glaced cherries
2 tablespoons crushed roasted hazelnuts

Extra
75g plain chocolate
Icing sugar for Dusting
Oil for deep frying

Make the pastry by putting flour, juice of an orange, eggs sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse till a ball of dough forms. Remove and wrap in cling film and let the dough chill for 15 minutes. Lightly oil 12 cannoli tubes. Using enough flour pass dough through pasta machine till very thin, approx 2.5 setting. Cut into long strips the width of your cannoli tubes. Cut into squares and ensure to overlap by 5mm when wrapped around the cannoli tubes. Place seam side down on a flour dusted baking tray. Deep fry in olive oil, remove cannoli tubes from pastry when completely cold. Cannoli shapes keep well for up to a week in an air tight container.
Make the ricotta filling by putting ricotta in a bowl and mash till smooth. Add sugar and stir well. Add candied peel, anisette, chopped chocolate, and chopped glaced cherries and mix well. Transfer mixture to a piping bag with 1 cm round plain nozzle.
Melt chocolate over baine marie, brush chocolate on the inside of each cannolo, this will help to keep the crisp for longer. Pipe ricotta mixture into each cannolo, press sides into crushed roasted hazelnuts. Arrange on a serving plate and dust with icing sugar.

Tip
Extra pastry can be cut into small rectangles and shaped into bows, or long strips and pinch sides every inch and roll into rosette as in the image. Deep fry in olive oil and drench with honey. Dust with cinnamon powder and crushed nuts and serve with coffee.