Sicilian Cannoli with Pistachio Cream: the Recipe to Make Them at Home

The cannolo is the defining dessert of Sicily. Not the cassata, not the buccellato, not the granita: the cannolo. Because it encapsulates everything Sicilian pastry does best — the play of textures, the sweet-savoury contrast, the generosity of the filling.

Ingredients for 12 cannoli

For the shell:

• 200g plain flour (type 00)
• 20g sugar
• 20g lard (or cold butter)
• 1 whole egg
• 50ml dry Marsala wine
• A pinch of salt, a pinch of unsweetened cocoa
• Groundnut oil for frying

For the filling:

• 500g sheep's milk ricotta, drained for 24 hours in a sieve
• 150g icing sugar
• 50g dark chocolate chips
• Organic Pistachio Cream for decorating the ends
• Pistachio granules, candied orange peel

The shell: the secret is Marsala

Knead flour, sugar, lard, egg, salt and cocoa together. Add Marsala in a thin stream until you get a smooth, elastic dough. Marsala is not optional: it is the fortified wine that gives the shell its distinctive toasted flavour and makes it crispier after frying.

Wrap the dough in cling film and rest for 2 hours in the fridge. Then roll it out very thinly (2mm), cut oval discs, wrap them around metal cannoli tubes and fry in oil at 180°C for 2–3 minutes until golden. Drain on kitchen paper.

The ricotta: it must be sheep's milk

This is the point on which Sicilians will not compromise: cannoli ricotta is sheep's milk. Cow's milk ricotta is too watery and flat in flavour. Sheep's milk ricotta has a natural savouriness and a granular texture that contrasts perfectly with the sweetness of the sugar.

Drain it for at least 24 hours in a covered sieve in the fridge. Excess water is the cannolo's enemy: if the ricotta is too wet, the shell softens within minutes.

Assembly: only at the last moment

Mix the drained ricotta with the icing sugar (never granulated — the crystals will not dissolve). Add the chocolate chips. Fill the shells with a piping bag, working from both ends.

Here is the finishing touch: spread a teaspoon of pistachio cream on each end and press into pistachio granules. The green of pistachio against the white of ricotta and the brown of the shell: this is the colour of Sicily.

When to fill

The golden rule: fill cannoli at the moment of serving. Never before. A shell filled 30 minutes earlier is a dead shell — the moisture from the ricotta softens it and the texture contrast disappears. In Sicily, serious pastry shops fill at the moment of ordering.