andrejthechef
ItalyDessertDessertVegetarian

Cannoli

Crisp fried pastry shells filled with sweet ricotta, the Sicilian dessert linked to one of the most quoted lines in The Godfather.

prep
40 min
cook
15 min
total
55 min
serves
12
level
medium
Cannoli, from The Godfather (1972)

Leave the gun, take the cannoli," Clemenza tells Rocco after a mob killing in The Godfather (1972), a darkly funny, endlessly quoted line that has made this Sicilian pastry nearly inseparable from the film ever since.

The real dessert is a crisp, fried shell wrapped around sweet ricotta filling, and the one rule worth following at home is filling the shells only right before serving, since the ricotta's moisture softens the crisp shell fast.

Part of our 40 famous movie foods list.

method

  1. Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa and cinnamon together. Rub in the cold butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.

  2. Add the egg, Marsala and vinegar, and bring together into a firm dough. Knead briefly, wrap, and rest for 30 minutes.

  3. Roll the dough out very thin, and cut into circles, about 10cm across.

  4. Wrap each circle around a metal cannoli tube, sealing the overlapping edge with a dab of beaten egg.

  5. Heat the oil to 180°C (355°F) in a deep pot.

  6. Fry the shells, still on their tubes, for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden and crisp. Drain, and carefully slide the tubes out once cool enough to handle.

  7. Beat the drained ricotta with the icing sugar and vanilla until smooth, then fold in the chocolate chips.

  8. Fill the cooled, empty shells with the ricotta mixture just before serving, using a piping bag.

  9. Dust with icing sugar, and serve immediately; filled shells soften quickly.

chef's tips

  • Fill the shells only right before serving. Cannoli shells are meant to stay crisp, and a shell filled too far in advance turns soggy from the moisture in the ricotta.
  • Draining the ricotta thoroughly, ideally overnight in a sieve lined with cheesecloth, is essential; wet ricotta makes a filling that is loose and runny rather than thick and spoonable.
  • In The Godfather (1972), cannoli are linked to one of the film's most quoted lines, when Clemenza tells Rocco to "leave the gun, take the cannoli" after a killing, a darkly comic moment that has made the dessert nearly inseparable from the film in pop culture.
  • Metal cannoli tubes are the traditional mold for shaping the shells; without them, the shells lose their characteristic rolled tube shape.