Our Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Best Homemade Cannolis

Cannolis are lovely little tubes of deliciousness. Their ultra-crisp amber shells give way to the most heavenly scented and delicately spiced ricotta filling. But finding a very good bakery cannoli can be harder than you think — especially if you move from a major metropolitan area to a small town, like I did, where most bakeries use pre-made, mass-produced cannoli shells. This year, I set out to make the very best cannoli shell I could at home — mostly driven by the longing for the super-crisp and classic shells I had in New York, New Jersey, and even in culinary school.

This is it, you guys: the ultimate step-by-step guide to making classic cannolis at home that has been many batches of cannolis in the making. This isn’t an easy shortcut version. It might require you to order some things online. You may need to bust out your pasta maker (or your biggest, baddest rolling pin). But it will yield the best possible homemade cannolis. Here’s everything you need to know about making cannolis at home, from shell to serving.

Much of what you need you probably have on hand, but before we get started, let’s look at the tools you’ll need to make cannolis from scratch.

• Food processor: You can mix the cannoli dough by hand, but pulsing it together in a food processor makes the job much easier.
• Pasta roller (or sturdy rolling pin): A very thin layer of dough makes for the crispiest cannoli shell (which is your goal) and a pasta roller will do all the work of rolling for you. However, you can get away with a rolling pin, too.
• Large circle cutter: If you buy cannoli molds, which I’d highly recommend, a large cutter usually comes with them. Otherwise, use the largest circle cutter in your nest circle cutter set.
• Cannoli molds: You can hack cannoli molds out of foil (more on that below) but cannoli molds are relatively inexpensive and last forever. Look for a set that has at least 18 molds.
• A deep-fry thermometer and Dutch oven: This is your basic deep-fry setup — a Dutch oven retains heat well and the thermometer keeps a read on the temperature. Make sure your pot is filled at least halfway (2 quarts for most pots) with vegetable or peanut oil — our two favorites for frying.
• A cooling setup: The cannoli shells need to sit on a cooling rack to keep them crisp. Set this rack over a paper towel-lined baking sheet for minimal cleanup.

I recommend buying the molds above, but if you are hoping to make cannolis ASAP, then yes: You can fold double layers of foil into reasonably acceptable molds for one-time use. You’ll need nearly an entire roll of foil to make enough molds for this recipe, though. And if you go this route, you’ll need to be especially careful when removing the molds from the hot oil — more oil will collect in the foil molds than in traditional cannoli molds.

Cannolis are really just two components: a crisp pastry shell and creamy ricotta filling. The shells — which must be wrapped around a cannoli mold and fried — are the most arduous piece of the cannoli puzzle. Not only are you making a pastry dough and shaping it into a tube, but you also need to keep your fingers crossed that the dough keeps its shape and stays closed during the deep-frying!

You can absolutely buy cannoli shells online — you’ll need about 16. I’ve even bought unfilled shells from the bakery at my grocery store. But frankly, decent shells are overpriced and the mediocre ones are not worthy of a delicious ricotta filling. Plus, you can buy cannoli molds for the price of one batch of empty shells.

The process of mixing the pastry dough is easy, but rolling it out, shaping it around the mold, and frying takes patience. I’ll walk you through the whole process below and in the recipe.

Cannoli filling, contrary to its complex crisp shells, is relatively easy. You want to grab some whole-milk ricotta — the best quality you can find will make a difference for this simple filling. If the ricotta is loose or very wet, you should drain the ricotta for at least one hour or overnight, which will keep the shells from getting soggy. After draining the ricotta, you’ll sweeten it with powdered sugar and add orange zest, cinnamon, and mini chocolate chips. It’s so good, you might be tempted to skip the cannoli shells altogether and eat it with a spoon.

• First drain the ricotta. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl, line with cheesecloth, then dump the ricotta into the cheesecloth and let it drain while you make the cannoli shells, at a minimum.
• Mix and rest the shell’s dough. You can make the cannoli dough in a food processor or by hand. Think of the this dough like a dressed-up pasta dough — avoiding over-mixing it, and rest it before rolling. You want a smooth, pliable dough before shaping.
• Make the filling while the dough rests. We’ve got an hour on our hands before the dough is ready for rolling, so now’s the time to make the filling and set up a fry station.
• Shape the cannoli tubes and fry ’em up. The cannoli dough needs to be rolled very thin. You can do this by hand, but if you’ve got a pasta roller at home, break it out and get it to work! After rolling and cutting the dough, make sure to puncture it with a fork and seal it with egg white. Both steps will ensure the dough doesn’t puff up and fall off the mold in the fry oil.
• Cool the shells before filling. The shells should drain and cool on a cooling rack before you attempt to remove the molds. You can also fry the shells in advance, and store them at room temperature in an airtight container for several days.

To ensure the shells stay crisp, fill the shells as close to serving as possible. I’ve been in at least one bakery that fills their cannoli to order, which you could easily do for a celebration or just for yourself. If you’re using a zip-top bag as a makeshift pastry bag, you want to fill half the cannoli from one side, then turn the pastry and fill the other end. This will prevent filling from building up in the middle of pastry and potentially bursting the seam.

As for garnish, a dusting of powdered sugar is plenty, but you can also dip the filled ends in leftover mini chips for that extra, better-than-the-bakery touch.

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