ahhh Cannoli. What is there not to love about Cannoli. A crisp marsala scented shell filled with creamy custard. I’ve been thinking about making salted caramel cannoli for some time now, but come to think of it I would put salted caramel on most things at the moment. As i made this dessert midweek there was no way that I was going to attempt making and frying the Cannoli dough myself. I think if I’m going to take the effort to make a midweek dessert I need to be practical about it, so I bought the Cannoli shells from my local fruit market, I could tell they were good quality ’cause as soon as i opened the packet the smell of of Marsala and pastry wafted up to my nose and made me just want to eat the pastry plain.

I started out by making a vanilla custard, and I know its not the traditional filling of Cannoli but it is really the filling I prefer best. I then made a salted caramel and folded it through half of the vanilla custard and filled the cannoli. Simple, easy quick and delicious! If you have a box of these Cannoli shells in your pantry for emergencies, you can wow surprise guests with minimal effort. Enjoy and happy cooking xx

 

Ingredients

1 box Cannoli shells (mine had 12 (about 4 inch) shells in it)
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
100 g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
30 g unsalted butter, chopped

For the salted caramel
150g caster sugar
15 g butter
200 g cream
1.5 teaspoons salt

Method

To make the vanilla custard:
1. Bring milk almost to boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until pale and creamy.

3. Stir the cornflour into vanilla mixture.

4. Whisk in milk very slowly, adding only a little bit of milk at a time. Transfer milk mixture to a clean saucepan.

5. Whisk over medium-low heat for 5 minutes or until mixture boils. Reduce heat to low. Whisk until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Stir in butter. Transfer to a large heatproof bowl. Cool slightly. Cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

TO make the salted caramel

1. Place 50  grams of sugar in a pot over medium heat, and stir constantly while it melts.

2. As its starts to melt add some more sugar and keep adding gradually until it is all melted. Do not allow to burn.

3. Once the sugar is completely melted add the butter, stir until incorporated.

4. Meanwhile warm the cream in the microwave until it is slightly warm, and add to the caramel mixture gradually while stirring until it’s a smooth homogenous mixture. Dont be alarmed if a sugar ball forms, just keep stirring continuously over low heat and it will dissolve into the rest of the caramel mixture

5. Add salt to taste

To Assemble
Fold the salted caramel into half the vanilla custard.
Pipe the vanilla custard and salted caramel custard into the Cannoli
Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve within a few hours before the Cannoli goes soggy.

Enjoy and happy cooking xx