Felidia's Stacked Cannoli

By cuznvin

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups ricotta cheese, preferably fresh or packaged whole milk
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• ⅓ cup dry white wine, or as needed
• ¾ cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for decoration
• 3 tablespoons bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 ½ tablespoons candied orange rind, finely chopped
• 1 ½ tablespoons toasted pistachios, chopped, plus more for serving
• vegetable oil for frying
• honey

Preparation

Step 1

Spoon the ricotta into a large, fine-mesh sieve or a colander lined with a double thickness of cheesecloth or a basket-type coffee filter. Place the sieve over a bowl and cover the ricotta well with plastic wrap. Drain the ricotta in the refrigerator at least overnight, or up to 24 hours. Discard the liquid in the bottom of the bowl.

Make the pastry: Pour the flour, sugar and salt in the workbowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add the oil, vinegar and 1/3 cup of the wine. Process the dough, adding more red wine, a few drops at a time if necessary, until you have a smooth, supple dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate from 2 hours to overnight.

Make the filling: Combine the drained ricotta and 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat with a handheld electric mixture until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Fold in the chocolate, orange rind and pistachios. Store in the refrigerator until needed.

On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough out to 1/16-inch thick, about the thickness of a dime. Cut the dough into 4-inch rounds and transfer them to a lightly floured kitchen towel. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Gather the scraps together and reroll them, cutting as many rounds as possible. You should have at least 18 rounds. Let the dough rest at least 15 minutes before continuing.

Pour enough of the oil into a large, heavy skillet to fill about 1/2-inch. Heat over medium heat until the oil appears rippling and an edge of one of the dough rounds gives off a slow sizzle when dipped in the oil. (The oil will register 350 degrees F on a deep frying thermometer.) Add as many rounds to the oil as will fit without touching. Fry, turning once, until both sides are golden brown, about 2 minutes. The dough circles with bubble and take on an irregular shape as they fry; make sure the oil is deep enough to cook and brown all the surfaces of the dough as they fry. Adjust the heat during cooking to maintain a lively sizzle and to give the dough a chance to cook through to the center. Don't allow the oil to get too hot: the dough colors quickly and can burn before the center is sufficiently cooked. Transfer the cooked rounds to paper towels to drain and fry the remaining rounds, adding more oil to the pan and waiting for the oil to reheat as necessary. Cool the circles completely before continuing.

To assemble the cannoli: Place a circle of the fried dough in the center of a serving plate and top with a rounded 2 tablespoons of the ricotta filling. Repeat and top with a dough circle. Make 5 more stacked cannoli in the same way. Drizzle honey over each and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Sprinkle some of the chopped toasted pistachios around the cannoli.