We All Need A Little Help From Our Friends

The outdoor hockey game turned out to be a big bust. Mother Nature decided she didn’t like outdoor hockey and started melting the ice. They boys were a little disappointed. But we girls, on the other hand, had a blast!!!!!!

Priscilla, Julia and I all love to cook and experiment with things in the kitchen. So while the boys were waiting and hoping the game would resume, we were busy playing and having fun in the kitchen. I had made my torta rustica, gnocchis with pesto and an asparagus and pepper tart (for another occasion, but I still made it all at the same time), and the plan was to make some chocolate cannoli for dessert. Channeling the Italian Nonnas. Well, silly me, I didn’t read the directions on how to make the cannolies beforehand, and didn’t realize that in order to actually make the cannoli shapes I needed cannoli tubes. None of us had ever made cannolies before, so none of us realized this small, minor detail, but we quickly learned how to improvise and made a fun, festive dessert enjoyed by all. We all put our thinking caps on and came up with a great “Plan B”. Did we want to deep fry the cannolis? Did we want to bake them? How did we want to shape them? We tried making them in different shapes. We fried a few and baked a batch. Both Priscilla and Julia pulled out their phones and started looking things up, and at last … we came up with a great plan. We all agreed we liked them baked in a muffin pan, as little cannoli cups, best. So, that was our final, delicious result. We had so many laughs coming up with and executing “Plan B”.

We made a lot of dough, but we all decided on only making a small batch and I just froze the rest for another time.

Julia made the dough and shaped it into circles that she then rolled out very thin. Priscilla was in charge of making the filling. I was the photographer for the most part.

Chocolate Cannoli Cups

The Dough

2cups flour

1/2 cup + 3 TBSP cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided

4 TBSP butter, at room temperature

1 cup almond rum or dry marsala

The Filling

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2/3 cup mascarpone or ricotta cheese

2/3 cup raisins, optional – We did not put raisins in this time

1 cup chopped pistachios, divided

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, the mini ones work best

Combine all the ingredients for the dough together, using only 7 TBSP of sugar, reserving the rest for the filling. Mix everything together until it form into a soft dough, then refrigerate for 15 minutes to allow it to set.

For the filling, start by whipping the cream to a firm peak. Then fold in the rest of the ingredients, including the rest of the sugar. Put the filling into the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

Since we baked our cannoli cups, I preheated the oven to 425* F or 200* C then I sprayed my muffing pans with cooking spray.

Cut the dough into thirds, and use only one third at a time, keeping the rest wrapped in plastic to keep it moist until you are ready to use it. Julia was busy rolling and cutting while Priscilla and I were busy filling.

We were playing with the shapes, deciding on what worked best.

Place the thin dough rounds in the muffin pan and bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until they are crisp. Allow them to cool completely before adding the filling.

To fill the cups, add about 1 heaping tsp of filling to each cup and spread it out to evenly fill the cup. Top each cup with some chopped pistachios. Enjoy!!!!!!

When you come to my house, and particularly if you love to cook and play around in the kitchen, be prepared for me to actually put you to work. I mean, after all, that’s half the fun of it right?! 🙂 We all had so much fun just playing around in he kitchen, and the boys actually enjoyed the meal much better than they enjoyed the game (which was delayed for 8 hours in between periods so the ice could freeze over again).

Live! Love! Eat!

Stay safe, stay well, and stay warm Everyone. ‘Til next time.