Description
These pumpkin spiced cannolis are such a decadent and amazing twist on the classic Italian pastry for fall! The shells are crispy with luscious filling.
Ingredients
- FOR THE FILLING:
- 1 pound Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
- ½ pounds Pumpkin Cream Cheese
- 1-½ cup Powdered Sugar
- 1-½ teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Spice Extract
- FOR THE CANNOLI SHELLS:
- 1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1 pinch Salt
- 2 Tablespoons Cold Butter, Cubed Small
- 1 whole Egg, Separated
- ¼ cups Pumpkin Spiced Coffee Creamer
- ¼ cups Cold Water
- Vegetable Oil, For Frying
- Powdered Sugar, For Topping
Preparation
First, make the filling. Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then use a hand mixer to whip it all together. Cover it and store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to fill the cannolis. Then, start on the shells. Set up a food processor and combine the flour, pumpkin spice and salt in its bowl. Pulse it a few times to aerate the dry ingredients. Add the butter and egg yolk and pulse it more to make the mixture pebbly. Finally, with the processor running slowly pour in the coffee creamer and cold water until it comes together into a soft dough.
Bring the dough together into a ball and turn it out onto a clean surface, preferably parchment paper. Knead it for a couple of turns to bring it together. Then cut it in half and roll the first half out thin enough to go through a pasta roller. Put the first half through the pasta roller twice on the widest setting, then twice more on the third widest setting. It will be very long, so cut it in half to make it more manageable. Repeat the process with the other half of the dough.
Use a 3 1/2 inch square cutter to cut out perfect squares from the dough. You should be able to get 6 from each sheet for 24 shells total. Then fill a large stainless steel skillet with deep sides with about 3 inches of the vegetable oil. Heat it up over medium high heat and use a deep fry thermometer to make sure the temperature gets to and stays around 350. Use cannoli molds to form the shells by wrapping the squares tightly around them with two of the corners overlapping in the middle. It’s like closing a diamond. Press the overlapping corners together firmly and seal the two corners together by brushing them with the egg white.
Fry the cannoli shells in batches of 4-6 for about 3 minutes, until the shells get crispy and golden. Remove them to a plate lined with paper towel to let them drain and cool. Then gently slide the shells off of the molds and form the next batch. Be sure to keep monitoring the oil heat. Once the shells are all fried and completely cooled, transfer the filling to a large pastry bag. Fill all of the shells generously, then sprinkle the cannolis with powdered sugar on top using a sifter. Serve immediately for an amazing dessert! The two components can also be made ahead. Just fill and dust the cannolis before serving so that the shells don’t get soggy.
