IN THE TUBE WITH DARING BAKERS...CANNOLI TIME

Angelo Pellegrini

I did the Daring Bakers challenge, finally. Got late this time for want of cannoli tubes or a fitting replacement. Oscillated between broomstick handles (thanks for the idea Judy) and paper rolls. Even got a metal tube cut into 5" bits but wasn't satisfied. Then suddenly got a brainwave...yes cream roll horns. That's what I would attempt to use ... & did in the end. Didn't get the perfect shape, but they were pretty close!

I got the cream roll horns from a quaint little store in Old Delhi ages ago. The little shop is a fascinating one, in the middle of the old city known as Purani Dilli. A part of Delhi steeped in culture, in all things ancient, old buildings, rickshaws, people from a different era ... just enthralling! This part of the Old Delhi, Chawri bazaar, is a wholesale market for everything ranging from auto parts, to weighing scales, to kitchen fittings, dry fruits, handmade paper, copper ware, basically everything ... and amazingly baking ware. Here's where I found dessert rings, piping bags, cookie cutters, muffin tins... and lots more. And that's how I got through my challenge this November!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia?s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

This times challenge was a departure from baking, a firts ever for the Daring Bakers! Yet, the spirited group embraced cannoli & deep frying with such exuberance, it was amazing. Yes, that's us. Daring Bakers who will leap to any challenge. The forums were a buzz with excitement after Lisa set up the challenge with all sorts of yummy filling ideas from ricotta, mascarpone, pumpkin puree filling etc. She is an over-the-top creative blogger & daring Baker, who churns out exquisite DB posts challenge after challenge. Her creativity blows me away each time. Thank you for hosting the challenge this time. Thank you also, Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, the fab ladies behind the Daring Kitchen.

I did have hopes to do a savoury and sweet challenge but finally got to terms with that just 'not going to happen' this time. I did however do a variation on the basic recipe. Made 1/2 dough with cinnamon keeping the original recipe (my cannoli is dark because I forgot to halve the cinnamon while having the rest of the ingredients), and another using some buckwheat and pepper. The buckwheat was meant for savoury cannoli, but ended up with sweet mascarpone flavourings eventually. The cannoli were super simple & straightforward to make, and made for yummy dessert. I stuck to mascarpone because the hub loves the luxury of this cream, not so much ricotta in dessert. Used an assortment of whatever I had in my spice cupboard to flavour the filling. I had a field day!Ranged from basil sugar (got the idea to make it from Ilva), pink peppercorn (sent to me by a sweet Mumbai blogger Anushruti), fresh orange zest, dark chocolate and plain vanilla. I dipped the tubes into melted chocolate & then into bowls of the flavourings to code them, then filled the tubs with corresponding flavoured mascarpone. Of course I made my mascarpone at home again. You can find the recipe here.

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