Cannoli are a special Sicilian dessert, alongside cassatas, almond paste, and many other types of sweets. All the goodness of sheep ricotta is enclosed in a crispy shell. There are various versions to make the shell, some choose to add cocoa and marsala, and others use coffee to flavor the shell. Regarding the filling, some prefer to add chocolate chips. Once the air fryer cannoli are filled, they are garnished with pistachio crumbles, cherries, or candied orange peels.
- Preparation time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Air frying
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp butter (or lard)
- 1 pinch salt
- Half teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tbsp marsala
- 1 egg yolk (optional)
- 14 oz sheep ricotta
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
Tools
- Air Fryers
- Molds for cannoli
Steps
To make the air fryer cannoli, start with the shell. In a bowl, add the previously sifted flour and cocoa, salt, sugar, cold butter from the fridge, and finally the Marsala. Begin to mix the ingredients with your hands until you get a homogeneous dough. If the dough is very hard, add a little more Marsala. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for about an hour.
After letting the dough rest in the fridge, leave it at room temperature for 15 minutes. Then, roll out the dough with a pasta roller starting from the widest thickness. Repeat the operation three or four more times, folding the dough like a wallet until you have a smooth dough. Continue to roll out the dough, gradually decreasing the thickness, until reaching a thickness of about 1/16 inches.
Now, take a pastry cutter with a diameter of 4 inches, and cut out circles that you will slightly elongate to obtain ovals. Place the steel mold (lightly greased) for the cannoli at the center of the ovals, wrap one edge of the dough around the cylinder, brush the other edge with the egg yolk or a little water, and finally join them. Proceed in this way for the other dough circles as well.
Grease the dough circles with a brush and insert them into the air fryer basket and cook for 8 minutes at 340°F. Once cooking is complete, wait for the cannoli to cool down and then remove them from the cylinder.
For the cannoli filling, sift the ricotta in a bowl that you have let rest for at least 12 hours in the fridge to lose most of the liquids. Add the powdered sugar to the ricotta, the chocolate chips, and mix everything with a spatula. Place the ricotta cream into a piping bag and fill your cannoli and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
You can enjoy these fantastic air fryer cannoli with your friends.
Storage and Tips
The air fryer cannoli can be stored for a couple of days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
The filling of Sicilian cannoli can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days whereas the shells can be stored at room temperature for a few days.
The advice I can give you is to fill the Sicilian cannoli at the moment to prevent the shell from softening. If you do not like the taste of sheep ricotta, you can flavor the filling with a tablespoon of Strega liqueur or replace it with classic cow ricotta.
