My Aunt Amelia (actually my grandmother's sister) joined our family almost every Sunday for dinner. Since she didn't contribute to the making of the meal, she "did her share" by jumping up before anyone else to start the dishes and by bringing with her a box of pastries from the pasticceria near her house.
Yield: 48 servings
After the table was reset for dessert, the white twine around the box was ceremoniously cut and we gathered around to see what constituted that week's assortment. There might be a rum-soaked baba or some sfogliatelli with their crispy layers and cheesy filling.
But I had my heart set on cannoli. For my young palate, there was nothing more pleasing or satisfying than that gossamer smooth cream, infused with the flavors of candied orange and chocolate bits, encased in the crunchy, bubbled shell.
One day, my mother decided to make a batch of cream puffs. For the filling, she sweetened ricotta cheese with confectioners sugar, flavored it with rum and vanilla, and mixed in chocolate bits and chopped candied orange peel. I couldn't resist dipping in a spoon and having a taste. That is the moment that destined me to love cooking. It was exactly the same cream as in the cannoli from the bakery!
I realized that it was possible to make the foods you love to eat. It sounds so simple - and yet it was a revelation filled with power. If you can make it, then you can make as much as you want, whenever you want.
Mom made her cream filling several times a year for special occasions. We even bought her a set of the wooden dowels used to shape the cannoli skins for deep-frying. Since I'd just as soon have my cream served in a bowl with a spoon, I've forsaken the difficult-to-handle dough for the tubes and fashion them instead from pizzelles. Hot off the griddle, they can easily be shaped into tubes, crunchy cups or cones and you don't have to wait for your Aunt Amelia to come over for dinner.
Pizzelles
Ricotta Cream
Pizzelles
Ricotta Cream
Posted by LladyRusty at Recipe Goldmine on 1/29/2002, 1:47 pm.
Source: WQED Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Magazine - by Chris Fennimore - wqed.org