Authentic Cannoli Recipe With Ricotta Filling

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This authentic Cannoli recipe is the classic Cannoli you would buy at the best Sicilian bakeries. Crunchy shell with a sweet creamy filling made with ricotta. I love to make them at home so I can make them natural, simple, and fresh and let the taste of the good ricotta prevails.

Jump to:

• What are Sicilian Cannoli
• How to prevent shells from going soggy
• Shells size
• Cannoli fillings
• Ricotta and Italian desserts
• Tools you need to make Cannoli
• Making the shells for the cannoli
• Making the ricotta filling
• How to serve the Cannoli
• Cannoli variations: sizes and flavors
• 📋 Authentic Cannoli Recipe

What are Sicilian Cannoli

Sicilian Cannoli are round crunchy fried dough shells filled with ricotta cream. In Sicily, you find them in any sweet bakery, Pasticceria,  throughout the entire year.

Selling good Cannoli is a pride for a Sicilian Pasticceria, the shells have to be crunchy and the filling creamy made with good quality sheep’s ricotta.

If a bakery serves mushy Cannoli, it is a bad sign. They clearly don’t know how to make them.

How to prevent shells from going soggy

The Cannoli should be filled at the last minute, just before serving them so the shell does not have time to absorb the humidity from the filling.

Mushy Cannoli means they have been sitting on the counter for too long.

If a Cannolo is nice and crunchy, you know it has been freshly made.

Some bakeries cover the inside of the cannoli shells with chocolate to create a protective layer that will prevent the shells from getting soggy.

This is an option, but I do prefer the authentic plain Cannoli without chocolate coating.

Shells size

There are 2 different size of Cannoli:

• Regular: 4.3 in – 11 cm long
• Mini: 2.5 in – 6.5 cm long

The classic Sicilian Cannoli you find in the bakeries are 4.3 in 11 cm, however, they are very big and if you serve them after a lavish dinner a whole Cannolo is a lot for just one person.

They are not practical to cut in two as the crunchy shell breaks into small pieces when cut.

That is why I prefer to make mini Cannoli which are easier to serve and are more appropriate portions.

You can always go for a second one!

Cannoli fillings

The Cannoli filling is made with ricotta, an ingredient often used in desserts especially in the South of Italy.

The ricotta is mixed with sugar and flavored with vanilla and some form of citrus flavor, either orange or lemon zest, or orange blossom water.

Unfortunately for me, they often add candied orange peels or squash, which I really do not enjoy. Especially the processed ones!

That is why I rather make Cannoli at home, so I can choose what to add to the filling and how to decorate them.

While I prefer plain ricotta cream decorated with toasted pistachios, for my sons I add chocolate chips.

Pistachios are very common in many Sicilian desserts as some of the best pistachios grow in the fertile soil of the Etna Vulcano, called Bronte.

Ricotta and Italian desserts

Ricotta is a cheese made by re-cooking (ri-cotta in Italian) the serum, called whey, that is left over after the milk has been curdled to make cheese.

Therefore ricotta is a cheese with low-fat content. Usually made from cow’s milk, it can also be made from sheep or goat’s milk.

In the South of Italy, sheep’s milk ricotta is often used to make desserts in substitution of butter or cream.

Delicious ricotta desserts are Cannoli Siciliani, but also Sfogliatella Napoletana, and the traditional Easter Pie Pastiera Napoletana  

Cow milk ricotta is the most common ricotta you find in the supermarkets, it is lighter and perfect for making desserts as it has a milder flavor.

However, the classic Sicilian desserts are made with sheep’s milk ricotta, which is not as easy to find outside Italy.

Goat’s ricotta is much stronger in flavor and has a higher fat content. It is not a good choice for desserts.

Tools you need to make Cannoli

The cannoli shells are wrapped around a tube and deep-fried, then the ricotta filling is piped inside the shell.

To make them you need specific tools and here is the list:

• You can either make the dough by hand or use an electric mixer. You can use the mixer also to make the ricotta cream.
• To shape the rounds for the shells you can either use a regular rolling pin, a pasta maker roll, and a cookie-cutter of 2.5 in – 6.5 cm in diameter or a dough press like I do in the video below.
• Cannoli tube molds 2.5 in – 6.5 cm or 4.3 in – 11 cm: I like those as they are easy to remove once the cannoli shells are done. They are non-stick and have a flexible round shape so they shrink or expand with the fluctuation of the temperature. You can buy the bigger size if you want to make larger cannoli. You can also use them to make different types of pastries.
• Pastry brush to seal the shells with egg wash
• Deep fryer or a regular pan for frying the shells
• Piping bag to fill in the shells with the ricotta cream

Making the shells for the cannoli

I have found many different recipes to make the cannoli shells, and I tried several but this recipe remains my favorite due to its simplicity and natural flavor.

Some recipes add cinnamon, cocoa, or Marsala wine, but I like to have a plain shell without too many aromas as I like ricotta to be the dominant flavor.

Making the dough

The ingredients for this dough are simply flour, sugar, white wine, white vinegar, salt, and lard. You will find the exact measurement in the recipe card below.

1. Mix all the ingredients together until you have a smooth dough
2. Wrap the dough into cling film and let it rest for 10 minutes
3. Cut the dough into 20 equal parts
4. Make 20 balls

3 easy ways to make the rounds for the shells

To make the rounds for the shells I used 3 different methods:

1. The classic way is using a rolling pin and cut the round with a cookie cutter
2. I also used the rolls for making pasta. This method makes a nice thin layer so the shells come out very thin. Cut the round with a cookie cutter and keep rolling the remains in the pasta rolls. As the thickness will be much thinner, you will have more than 20 shells and you may need to double the dose of ricotta cream from this recipe.
3. I decided to buy a dough press and never looked back to the other 2 methods. So much easier. You can see how I make them in the video below with step by step instructions. With this dough press also make homemade wraps and tortillas. An excellent timesaver!

Using the dough press

1. Open the press and lay a sheet of parchment paper over the disk
2. Dust with plenty of flour
3. Place a ball of dough in the center, make sure it is well-floured
4. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper
5. Close the top disk
6. Press
7. Open the press and remove the round from the parchment paper
8. The circles will be 2.5 in – 6.5 cm in diameter

Wrapping the shells around the tube

1. Coat all the tubes in vegetable oil, the same you use for frying
2. Place the tube in the middle of the circle (2.5 in – 6.5 cm of diameter)
3. Fold one side
4. Prepare the egg wash by whipping an egg
5. Brush with the egg wash the edge of the dough over the tube
6. Fold the other side and seal the two ends

Frying and removing the tube

1. Once the first 10 shells are ready, prepare the fryer
2. Place the shells inside the fryer filled with hot oil
3. Fry until they turn golden brown
4. Drain the excess oil
5. Place them on a kitchen paper to absorb the rest of the oil
6. Holding the tubes with kitchen paper, remove the tubes from the shells. The tube will be very hot
7. Make the second batch of shells

Storing the shells

If you missed it earlier in the article, the Cannoli has to be filled just before you serve them otherwise the shell will become soggy.

Once the shells are ready they will keep for few days stored in an air-thigh container until you are ready to fill them with the ricotta cream.

If you wish you can dip the shells in chocolate and let it solidify to form a coat inside as well as outside the shell.

Making the ricotta filling

1. Before you make the ricotta cream, make sure the ricotta is well drained from the water
2. Mix with a blender the ricotta, the sugar, and the flavoring (vanilla, orange blossom water, or zest from an orange or lemon)
3. Best if you let the filling rest in the fridge for few hours

NB: since the cannoli needs to be filled just before serving, you can prepare both the cream and the shells the day before

How to serve the Cannoli

To finish the cannoli just before serving them:

1. Place the ricotta cream into a piping pastry bag
2. Push the cream at the front of the pipe so there are no air pockets
3. Pipe the cream inside the shells from each side
4. You can decorate each side of the cannoli with chocolate chips or grated toasted pistachios
5. Dust them with icing sugar

Cannoli variations: sizes and flavors

This is the recipe for the authentic Cannoli, but you can find many more variations.

Cannoli can be large, covered with chocolate, filled with chocolate, pistachio, or hazelnut cream, flavored with candied squash, fruits, or orange peels.

Try out other variations, let your imagination go and see which one you like best.

This simple one is my favorite!

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