28. Sicilian Cannoli

to make the dough: 300 g plain white flour, 30 g sugar, 50 g lard, 2 tbsp. vinegar, 2 tbsp. honey, cinnamon powder; to make the stuffing: 1 kg ricotta cheese, 350 g sugar, 80 g chopped candied fruit, plain chocolate; lard or oil for frying, icing sugar

To make the dough, mix the flour with the lard, the sugar, a pinch of cinnamon powder, a little water, the vinegar and the honey and knead accurate until smooth. On a clean surface, roll out the dough to a few millimetre thickness. Cut out square sheets of dough (each side cm. 12), roll them up obliquely around cane tubes especially cut for this purpose (grease the cane tubes before using them). Press the overlapping angles of the square sheets of dough to make them stick together (see fig. 4) Fry the dough wrapped around the tubes in the lard (or oil) and drain on brown paper to get rid of the excess grease. At this point you can take the cane tubes out of the cannoli. Sift the ricotta and mix it with the sugar (finely crushed in the mortar), stir for a while with a wooden spatula then add the candied fruit and the chopped chocolate. When the cannoli are room temperature you can stuff them with this mixture. Sprinkle the icing sugar on them and serve.