Cannoli are a traditional Sicilian dessert comprising a crisp pastry tube, filled with sweet ricotta and candied fruits. It is best to use a deep-fryer for cooking the tubes as you can really control the oil temperature, however, with a bit of practise you can also do it the same way the Sicilians have done it for 1000 years, in a pot! Classically those crazy Italians use candied pumpkin in their cannoli, but if you can’t find this, any candied fruit will do. Also, the original cannoli was made with lard, but my more modern version uses copha. 

Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 5 mins
Makes 16 cannoli

1 cup plain flour
3 Tbsp icing mixture
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 Tbsp Copha
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup marsala
1 eggwhite
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
1 cup ricotta
3 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp candied fruit, chopped
1 cup chopped pistachios
Icing sugar, for dusting

1 Sift flour, icing mixture, baking powder and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add Copha, egg yolk and marsala. Knead mixture until smooth.
2 Roll out pastry to 2mm thick. Cut out 10cm rounds. Wrap each pastry circle around oiled metal tubes. Seal the tubes with eggwhite.
3 Deep-fry cannoli (in tubes) in oil at 170°C for 1-2 minutes or until crisp. Drain on paper towel. Remove tubes when cool.
4 Put ricotta, honey and fruit in a bowl. Mix to combine. Spoon ricotta mixture into a large piping bag and pipe into cannoli. Put pistachio in a small dish, then dip each end of cannoli into the pistachio. Serve.

Notes:
* It is worth looking out for candied pumpkin as it is an unusual and delicious product. Try your local continental deli or health food shop.
* Cannoli is traditionally made by wrapping pastry around pieces of cane and deep-frying (hence cannoli, from canna, cane). The cane is removed and the pastry is filled. Cannoli is plural, cannolo is singular.