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I’m so happy to report that my first Daring Bakers challenge was a total success! And a tasty one at that!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Note: Rather than posting all of the instructions here (and there are a lot of ‘em), here is a link to Lisa’s blog where she has the complete and detailed info. Keep scrolling for my experience with making cannoli.

Because I had never made cannoli, naturally I didn’t have any cannoli forms. I found 4 stainless steel forms at a local kitchen store but, I figured in order to make more than 4 cannoli at once I should try making some forms out of wooden dowels. So, off I went to the hardware store and picked up two 7/8″ dowels (regular size cannoli) and one 5/8″ dowel (mini cannoli). I then cut them into 5.5″ long pieces for the 7/8″ dowels and 3.75″ long pieces for the 5/8″ dowel. After that, I sanded, sanded and sanded them down until they were perfectly smooth.

After sanding about the 8th dowel, I was wondering why I really needed that many. But in the end they did come in handy, as I was able to form most of the cannoli shells at once then fry them without having to stop and wait for the forms to cool before moving on.

From what I had read before, cannoli dough can be pretty difficult to roll out by hand. But as I don’t have a pasta machine (the other method for rolling out), I decided to just go for it. I divided the dough in half and rolled out a one at a time. I quickly learned just how difficult this dough really is. The minute I thought, “Hey, I’m getting somewhere here” it would shrink and become half the size of what I had just rolled out. It finally gave in after a lot more rolling and I was able to start cutting out the circles.

After they were cut, I rolled them into an oval shape, wrapped them around the oiled cannoli forms and sealed them with egg whites. I did the same thing for the second half of the dough, but this time rolled it even thinner. This resulted in better blistering of the shells when they were fried.

While the shells were cooling, I made the fillings. I had planned on only doing a traditional ricotta and a pumpkin version. But, in my true nature, I over did it a bit. When all was said a done, I ended up with 5 different fillings. Five. Why? I’m not really sure.

The flavors are (clockwise): Key lime mascarpone, traditional ricotta with mini chocolate chips, peppermint mocha, pumpkin pecan and chocolate raspberry cannoli fillings. (Recipes are below)

I drained the ricotta overnight to get the excess moisture out but I think something went a little off, as my ricotta was a bit grainy and not very smooth. It still tasted great though.

Also, when the shells were completely cool (before filling), I dipped the ends of a few in melted dark chocolate. For the peppermint mocha cannoli, I rolled the ends in peppermint pieces before the chocolate hardened.

So what to do with the scraps of dough left over? You could re-roll them and make more cannoli OR you could dunk them in the oil and make crispy little cannoli bites. Of course, to make it even better you could drizzle dark chocolate and sprinkle them with confectioners’ sugar. I really should have made cannoli sooner. I never knew this was what I was missing.

If you look closely, you’ll see that I completely forgot to fill a shell with the chocolate raspberry filling. So just squint or use your imagination, please.

Recipes:

• Cannoli Shells

Key Lime Mascarpone Cannoli Filling
adapted from Epicurious

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp freshly grated lime zest
4 tbsp bottled key lime juice (5 tbsp if fresh)
1 cup (1/2 lb) mascarpone cheese

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese with sugar, zest and lime juice until smooth. Beat in mascarpone. Chill at least 4 hours before filling.

Pumpkin Pecan Cannoli Filling
adapted from Stonewall Kitchen

1 cup ricotta cheese, drained
1/2 cup Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter
2 tbsp confectioners’ sugar
2 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Combine the ricotta, pumpkin butter and confectioners’ sugar and mix until well blended. Chill 2-4 hours.
Combine the 2 tsp granulated sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Sprinkle on the ends of the filled cannoli.

Note: This recipe was originally intended to use Stonewall Kitchen’s Maple Pumpkin Butter, but after searching every store in my area, I couldn’t find it. So I substituted Murihead Pecan Pumpkin Butter that I found at my local Williams-Sonoma.

Traditional, Chocolate Raspberry and Peppermint Mocha Cannoli Fillings

I used Lisa’s recommended ricotta recipe and divided it in thirds.

2 lbs ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons finely chopped candied orange peel or zest of one small to medium orange

unsweetened cocoa powder
mini chocolate chips
2 tbsp finely chopped good quality chocolate, divided
1/4 cup finely chopped peppermint candy pieces
1 tsp espresso powder
1/3 cup fresh raspberries

WIth an electric mixer, beat ricotta until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon and vanilla; blend until smooth. Using a wooden spoon, stir in zest.

Divide the filling into three separate bowls (just about 1 cup in each bowl).

For the traditional ricotta, just mix in desired amount of mini chocolate chips.

Chocolate Raspberry filling: Mix in 2-3 tsp of cocoa powder (add to taste). Add in 1 tbsp of the finely chopped chocolate, and fresh raspberries. Blend well.

Peppermint Mocha filling: Mix in 2-3 tsp of cocoa powder (add to taste). Add in espresso powder, peppermint pieces and remaining 1 tbsp of chopped chocolate.

Chill fillings for about 4 hours before using.

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Ah, Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite holidays. But recently, it seems as if it has been skipped completely. TV commercials, emails advertisements, stores, they’re all telling me that Christmas is here. I know, Christmas is close but really? There are even Christmas tree tents going up already. Must we ignore Thanksgiving? Don’t get me wrong, Christmas is an awesome holiday but can I get some love for Thanksgiving?

Okay, I’m hopping off my soap box now.

Like I was saying, Thanksgiving. One of my favorites, most likely because there is food involved. But aside from that, Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to enjoy family. It’s even better when it involves my Grandma’s southern pecan pie.

There isn’t a single Thanksgiving in my memory that doesn’t include this pie. Grandma makes no less than 10 pies each year for family and friends that request them. The original recipe is from one of her cookbooks she received as a wedding present. You can tell how well loved it is by the ripped, stained, and scribbled on pages.

On a side note, this was the first time using my shiny, new Emile Henry ruffled pie dish. I got it as a gift for my birthday recently and this seemed like the perfect pie to christen it with. It baked the pie perfectly even and the crust came out wonderful!

This pie is so simple to make. Just mix, pour, bake.

Easy as…pie! Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one.

Southern Pecan Pie

Filling:

1 1/2 cup pecan halves
3 eggs
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granular sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For the crust I used my favorite recipe, Pate Brisee (pie dough), from Martha Stewart.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line your pie dish with dough and spread the pecan haves evenly over the bottom of the dish. Pop the pie dish in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Mix in melted butter, corn syrup and vanilla.

Combine the sugar and flour; blend with egg mixture.

Pour the mixture over pecan halves and let the pie stand until all of the pecans float to the surface.

Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes, until the filling jiggles slightly when gently shaken. Let the pie cool completely to allow it to set up which usually takes about 4-6 hours.

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Blueberry Pocket Pies that is. I saw these Pocket Pie Molds on Williams-Sonoma’s site a while back and just had to try them. Last week I finally ordered a set (heart & star) and they came in today so I stopped by the market to pick up some fresh blueberries.

The molds work really well and are easy to use. The heart mold holds a bit more filling than the star.

Take a look at these gorgeous berries. I must confess… some of them never made it into the pies…

For the filling I used a Blueberry Pie recipe from MarthaStewart.com. Oh my goodness, it was de-lish!! Normally, I’m not one for blueberry pie (I’m more of a peach gal) but I have to say this rivals almost any fruit pie I’ve ever made.

Rather than using the crust recipe on the back of the boxes I opted for the Pate Brisee (crust) recipe, also from Martha. It was perfectly flaky and buttery! It made about 6 but I have a feeling had I rolled out my dough a bit more I easily could have gotten 8. But I tend to like more crust so I think it worked out just fine.

Poor thing. Didn’t even make it through the photos… I will definitely be trying these again with other fillings.

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