Air Fried Cannoli
One of the most classic Italian pastries, cannoli features a crispy fried pastry shell wrapped around a sweet ricotta filling, they are incredibly popular in bake shops all across the US and Italy and are certainly delicious.
(I suppose one could think of them as sweet Italian tacos)
While you can certainly buy cannoli shells in the cookie section of most grocery stores, let’s face it, there’s nothing that says ‘I love you’ more than a dessert made from scratch.
I’ve actually never made cannoli dough from scratch, but I can’t imagine that it’s too difficult. I do know that there are special molds that people normally use to keep cannoli in that tubular shape when fried, but I’ll talk about that later.
Also, I wanted to do an experiment to see if cannoli shells can be air fried for a similar crispy texture without having to deep fry.
I can’t see why that wouldn’t work, it’s not like I’m talking about any wet batter, so I’m just going to jump right into it!
This recipe is provided by the queen known as ICAG, Iron Chef Alex Guarnachelli, so I hope I can do this cannoli justice.
Air Fried Cannoli
Makes 16 Cannoli
For the Cannoli Dough:
2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup of dry white wine
For the filling:
2 cups of ricotta cheese, whole milk is preferred
3/4 cup of powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of allspice
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips
1 lemon, zested
Flour, for dusting
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil.
Start by making the dough. This dough process is similar to classic pie dough, with a bit of a twist.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt until combined
Add the butter, then use your fingers to break up the butter into tiny, breadcrumb-sized pieces. The mixture should look a bit sandy and coarse.
Add the egg yolk and wine, then mix until a smooth dough forms. Dump the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, wrap it into a disc, then let it sit in the fridge while you make the filling.
(So, why is there wine in a cannoli dough?
Well, alcohol evaporates quicker than water, so by the time that alcohol has evaporated out of the dough, you’ll be left with an incredibly crispy, flaky shell. We do it for pie dough, beer batter for fish and chips, and tempura batter.
Don’t worry, the alcohol will be cooked out of the dough during frying, so this will be safe to serve to kids, but if you’re that worried then you can certainly swap the wine for water.)
To make the filling, start by mixing together the ricotta, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and allspice in a medium bowl.
(If your ricotta is a bit watery, then go ahead and strain it for about half an hour.)
In a separate bowl, whip the cream to a stiff peak stage, then gently fold into the ricotta mixture with a rubber spatula, then stir in the chocolate chips and the lemon zest. Cover and refrigerate for half an hour to an hour to set and let the flavor develop.
(Oftentimes, the edges of cannoli are dipped into chocolate or pistachios for a nice looking outside, but by putting the chips inside the filling, you’ll get bits of chocolate throughout the cannoli)
Ok, let’s talk about how I’m going to shape the cannoli dough into that classic tubular shape.
There are metal cannoli molds that you can buy, the idea is that you wrap discs of the dough around the mold to allow the cannoli to hold their shape during cooking and the molds simply slide out once the cannoli are fried, but the fact is that I don’t have those, so I need an alternate solution.
I believe that any metal tool with an inch-wide handle that the discs of dough can wrap around can be used to make cannoli. Here, you can see I’ve used the handles for my ravioli slicer and my baby whisk. Yes, I can only do 2 cannoli at a time this way, but that’s fine.
One thing I will say is this, whatever you decide to use as a cannoli mold, make sure it does not contain any rubber or plastic, because that will melt, as I have learned the hard way.
RIP, my garlic press
Once the cannoli dough is rested, preheat the air fryer to 350 degrees.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a 1/8-inch thickness. Lay a glass or any object 3-4 inches wide onto the dough, then trace your knife around the glass to cut circles out of the dough. (A 3-inch round cookie cutter would be great to use too.) You should end up with 16 circles of dough.
Wrap a few dough discs around the cannoli mold of your choice (Or you could leave the dough flat and cook it as it is then spread the ricotta mixture on top to make almost a cannoli pizza)
Whisk together the egg and vegetable oil in a small bowl (The oil will help get the shells crispy), then brush onto each shell before air frying for 14-16 minutes, or until the shells are golden all around.
Allow the shells to cool for a minute, then gently slide the shells off of the mold by holding the mold in one hand with tongs and using another hand wrapped in a kitchen towel to carefully slide the shells off the mold, leave to cool completely.
Repeat with the remaining dough discs.
Load the ricotta filling into a piping bag with the tip cut wide enough to push the chocolate chips through, then pipe the filling into each shell so that the filling can be seen from both ends.
Dust the cannoli with powdered sugar, if you want to, then serve right away!
I will state that air frying my cannoli dough didn’t result in the same bubbly exterior that you get from deep frying, but the shells were still flaky and golden, the filling was creamy and full of flavor from the spices, the lemon, and a bit of added texture from the chocolate, and it’s something worth trying out at home!
