Cannoli Siciliani

Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• Half a tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of fine salt
• 30g lard, at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk
• 15ml white wine vinegar
• 80ml dry Marsala
• 1 egg white, for sealing
• 1.5 litres sunflower oil, for frying
• 800g sheep's milk ricotta
• 200g icing sugar, plus more to dust
• 80g dark chocolate chips
• 60g candied orange peel
• 50g chopped pistachios

Before you cook

• Tip the ricotta into a sieve lined with muslin, set it over a bowl, weight it with a plate, and drain it in the fridge overnight.
• Lightly oil twelve metal cannoli tubes.
• Chop the candied orange peel finely.

Steps

1. Whisk the flour, caster sugar, cocoa, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl.
2. Rub in the lard until the mixture is sandy.
3. Add the egg yolk, the vinegar and most of the Marsala, then bring the dough together, adding the last of the Marsala only if it stays dry.
4. Knead the dough hard for ten minutes, until it is very smooth and firm, like pasta dough.
5. Wrap the dough and rest it in the fridge for at least one hour.
6. Beat the drained ricotta with the icing sugar until smooth.
7. Push the sweetened ricotta through a fine sieve, then push it through a second time for a silky cream.
8. Fold in the chocolate chips and half the candied orange, then chill the cream until you need it.
9. Roll the dough out very thinly, to about 1.5mm, working with a quarter of it at a time.
10. Cut out 10cm circles, then stretch each one gently into an oval.
11. Wrap an oval loosely around a cannoli tube so the two long edges overlap.
12. Brush the overlap with egg white and press it firmly to seal.
13. Shape the rest of the shells the same way.
14. Heat the frying oil in a deep pan to 180 degrees Celsius.
15. Lower two or three tubes into the oil and fry for about two minutes, until the shells are blistered and deep golden.
16. Lift them out and drain them on kitchen paper.
17. Slide the tubes out with a cloth as soon as the shells are cool enough to handle.
18. Cool the shells completely, which takes about 20 minutes.
19. Pipe the ricotta cream into each shell from both ends until it bulges.
20. Dip the exposed ends into the chopped pistachios and the remaining candied orange.
21. Dust with icing sugar and serve within the hour, before the shells soften.