Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Cannolis deserve their own food group. Yes, they are simply dessert, but sometimes they have fruit. That makes it good enough for breakfast in my opinion… Think of how great they would pair with a refreshing mimosa.
Honestly, if we get to have pastries at breakfast, cannolis should be included. So, flashback to Rome in the year of 2015 when I made it my mission to eat and judge all the cannolis the eternal city had to offer.
History of the Cannoli
Cannolis have been around since the medieval era. In that time people delighted in the sweet dessert during the Carnevale season (similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans with festivities of parades and masquerades). Some claim that the cannoli was used as a joke during the festivities. People would fill the open ends with the ricotta and place a cotton ball in the middle as a trick on the poor guy that simply wanted to enjoy dessert. (Rude!)
A more legitimate reason is that the grass is greener in the spring during the season of Carnevale, which gives the sheep’s milk a better taste for the ricotta filling.
In Sicily, traditional ricotta is made with strictly sheep’s milk and hardly any sugar to sweeten it because the cream is perfect on its own. The taste of the tangy cheese should be detectable and not covered by the sweetness of sugar.
With the classic traditional cannoli, there are usually only a few types of toppings. In the western region of Sicily, candied fruit is added; whereas in the eastern region, pistachio shavings are the topping of choice.
Nowadays the tube is found year-round and found with more than just sheep’s ricotta and sugar stuffed inside. When Italians immigrated to the U.S., they had to work with new ingredients leading to the large variety of cannolis we know and love today. Cow’s milk is used a lot because the taste is milder than the tangy flavor of sheep ricotta, but some bakeries are even using Nutella and peanut butter fillings in the wrapped shell! Yum!
One untraditional version is custard, which I Dolci di Vincenza carries. It has an interesting jelly-like texture compared to the smooth creaminess of ricotta filling. The custard is an opaque shade of yellow…it almost looks like the fat off of a steak. The shell is a tad soggy, which could be from the different filling; however, the shell can also become soggy if the filling sits in fried pastry for too long because it absorbs the liquid.
The custard wasn’t my cup of tea but I Dolci di Vincenza is one of the best in Rome and offers chocolate, lemon, orange, and pistachio fillings.
Nutella Flavored? Yes, Please.
Still on the hunt of finding a delicious cannolo, I venture into La Cannoleria Siciliana. The small Sicilian bakery is nearly 100 meters from the Spanish Steps. Outside of the small store a teenage girl has her mom take a picture of her with the storefront in the background for the Instagram likes. The inside smells of fried dough and chocolate. Six different flavors of cannoli are displayed right when I walk into the warm, cozy atmosphere.
As a person who can eat an entire giant jar of Nutella in a day, their Nutella flavor is the first to catch my eye. I knew I couldn’t leave the shop without trying it. Nutella was mixed in with the sheep ricotta, which gave the normally tangy sheep ricotta a sweet and nutty flavor.
The cannoli at La Cannoleria Siciliana had a delicious, tangy filling, but the shell wasn’t perfect. There has to be a shop in Italy that has a perfect cannolo.
Sugar, Sugar
The cannoli at Ciuri Ciuri is a tease for all tastebuds but it doesn’t quite resemble the true taste of a Sicilian cannoli.
Just outside the storefront of the adorable pasticceria, people of all ages line up to satisfy their sweet tooth. Inside they have a giant container of gelato with delicious, colorful flavors of pistachio, mixed berry, chocolate, hazelnut, apricot, and more. More importantly, they have cannolis ranging from the size of a cigarette to the size of my fist.
Feeling ambitious, I ask for largest of course. She grabs the tub of ricotta filling from the refrigerator and spoons it into the delicious fried pastry dough. It looks perfect, but she isn’t quite done. She then dips both ends of the pastry into a container full of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
An authentic Sicilian cannoli should be mildly sweet. This one is nearly pure sugar. The cream is even a little grainy because the sugar hasn’t had time to dissolve thoroughly. It might not meet the traditional cannoli standards, but it is pure heaven. Honestly, 10/10.
Cannoli Paradise
In the small Piazza Paradiso slightly away from the overcrowded streets near the museums is a small pastry shop by the name of Pasticceria De Bellis. It’s a small elegant shop designed perfectly to bring out the beauty of the decorative pastries. Everything on display looks delicious, but the cannolis stand out in the assortment of colorful desserts. The young girl behind the counter is smiling ready to take my order while I stare at the decadent mousse, tarts, and cakes.
She reaches for one of the large cannoli with pistachio grounds on one end and candied oranges on the other from the display. After reading so much information on how the cannolo should be filled directly in front of you when you order I worry that the shell will be soggy, but Katie Parla, a popular food blogger in Rome, suggested this place, so it can’t be horrible.
She wraps the cannoli in a napkin and places it on the counter on a black paper plate to be enjoyed in in the cozy, modern back room. It’s quaint with only two chairs and two tiny circular tables.
The colorful candied fruits and green pistachios help the cannoli project against the muted colors of the room. It looks delicious. Mouth opened wide I take one big chomp into it on the side with the candied oranges. The fruity flavor lightens the bitterness of the creamy sheep ricotta. On the other side, the pistachios give the ricotta a rich, nutty flavor. The cream is smooth and sweet and mildly tangy. So many flavors at once!
The unbelievable part is the shell. It’s perfectly light and flaky. The girl behind the counter says, “The shell is the hardest part to make. The shortbread breaks easily after it’s fried.” Well, they certainly nailed it.
This is exactly what a cannoli should taste like—a crispy thin shell with a tangy, creamy ricotta cheese filling.
Ciuri Ciuri
Address: Via Leonina, 18, 00184 Roma, Italy
La Cannoleria Siciliana
https://www.lacannoleriasiciliana.it/en/
Address: Via di Monte Brianzo, 66, 00186 Roma, Italy
I Dolci di Vincenza
Address: Piazza di Montecitorio, 116 Roma, Italy
http://www.dolcinonnavincenza.it/
Pasticceria De Bellis
Address: Piazza del Paradiso, 56, 00186 Roma, Italy