Everyone loves cannolis right? So why are they not a house hold food item? Well, first of all the shell of the cannoli is deep fried – not very helpful for those trying to count calories.
There are a number of recipes for cannoli fillings, some include just ricotta and confectioner sugar, while others call for a list of other ingredients such as cream cheese, mascarpone, chocolate chips and of course various extract flavors.
But this post is not about the filling. It is about solving the issue of the shell. So with one word you can have a lower calorie solution – pizzelles.
My brother made some homemade cannolis for Easter dessert this year. Instead of frying cannoli shells he made a batch of pizzelles and rolled each into a tube. They were stunning, as you can tell in the photo.
No, the texture is not the same as a fried cannoli shell. If I had to describe it, I’d say it was like a cannoli cookie. Definitely something I would keep in mind in the future for parties or family get togethers.
If you have a pizzelle maker, or want to purchase one, check to see if it comes with cannoli rollers, also called cannoli forms
. This is what you will use to wrap the pizzelle around to form the tube. You can also purchase the rollers/forms separately if you already have a maker.
The rollers are standard size, so do not expect to make mini-cannolis. These produce a good size cannoli – I don’t think anyone will complain!
Liz