Cannoli | Crispy Ricotta-Filled Pastry Rolls, Sicilian-Style

Mix the flour, cocoa, sugar and salt. Rub in the room-temperature butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the apple cider vinegar and orange juice, bring the dough together, and knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and very firm. Soft dough will not roll out thinly.

Stir the drained ricotta with the powdered sugar and cinnamon using a spatula — do not use a mixer, because ricotta gets watery as it is beaten. Once the mixture is glossy and smooth, fold in the chocolate chips and chopped orange peel. The cream should hold on a spoon without running; if it does run, drain it in cheesecloth for 1 more hour.

Divide the dough into four pieces. Roll each with a rolling pin or pasta machine to 1.5 mm thick — thin enough to read newsprint through it. Cut 10 cm circles, then gently stretch each circle into an oval. Gather and reroll the scraps, but no more than twice or the dough will toughen.

Lightly grease the metal cannoli tubes. Wrap each oval around a tube with its long axis parallel to the tube, then brush the seam with egg white and press to seal. If the seam opens while frying, the shell will flatten, so use a generous amount of egg white.

Heat the oil to 180°C / 355°F in a deep pot; if you do not have a thermometer, a scrap of dough should bubble and float within 3 seconds. Fry the tubes three at a time, removing them after 60–90 seconds, when blistered and deep golden. Let them cool slightly on a rack, then twist the shells off the tubes using a cloth; they will break if you pull them off while hot.

Once the shells have cooled completely, transfer the cream to a piping bag fitted with a wide tip and fill each shell from both ends toward the center. Dip the ends in chopped pistachios and dust with powdered sugar. Eat filled cannoli within half an hour; they lose their crispness if left longer.