Cannoli Shells And Ricotta Cream Filling

Giovanna, our good friend, makes wonderful cannoli shells and ricotta cream-love friends like her! her family owned italian restaurants for over 40 years in the chicago area. she stores the shells in a plastic air tight container at room temperature for 2 months and freezes the filling she is not using immediately and defrosts it in the refrigerator later. As she would say mangiare, mangiare---eat, eat! (i will attempt to post some photos in the correct sequence http://www.recipezaar.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=259809)

Steps

Three or more days in advance of making the cannoli shells set the ricotta in a colander inside of a large bowl.

Scrape the ricotta into the colander and cover with plastic wrap.

Let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for two days , until it is dry.

To make the dough for cannoli shells: in a small bowl put eggs.

Beat eggs.

Add vanilla and ice water to eggs.

In a large bowl , use your hands to combine the flour , sugar , salt , cocoa , and cinnamon.

Add the shortening and mix until crumbly.

Make well in dry mixture and add wet mixture.

Using your hands mix together , if it is dry , add more ice water.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended , about 3 minutes.

Shape the dough into a flattened ball.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for at least 30 to 60 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4 pieces.

Starting at the middle setting , run one of the pieces of dough through the rollers of a pasta machine or th.

Ingredients

whole milk ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon oil, milk chocolate candy bars with almonds, eggs, ice water, flour, salt, unsweetened cocoa powder, ground cinnamon, crisco shortening, egg white, peanut oil