2929cannoli have always been
a fixture in Angie Rito’s fam-
ily, thanks to her Sicilian
grandfather Santo. At age 8, he
worked at a tiny pastry shop in
Riposto, on the island’s east-
ern coast. His first task was
mixing cannoli dough.
“Back then, the shop was
using a 300-pound marble
mortar to keep the dough
cold,” says Angie, who co-
owns Don Angie restaurant
with her husband, Scott
Tacinelli. According to her
grandfather, adding cold
dough to hot frying oil helps
create the bubbling that
makes cannoli shells light
and delicate. “I’m not entirely
sure the science adds up,
but who am I to change the
way he’s always made it?”
He also spent hours knead-
ing and rolling out the dough
by hand.
Cannoli are still Santo’s
specialty: He bakes them pro-
fessionally at Rito’s, their
family-run bakery in Cleve-
land. “It’s the thing he’s most
proud of, and he’s devel-
oped his own recipe from the
one he learned growing up,”
Angie says.
Though the pastry origi-
nated in Palermo in western
Sicily, and the pistachios
used there likely have Arabic
origins, the version her grand-
father was taught had tiny
chocolate chips stirred into
the filling and adorning the
ends. “Maybe that is an east-
ern Sicilian version,” she says.
Wherever they ’re from,
Sicilian cannoli almost always
use sheep’s-milk ricotta in
the filling—which has a tang-
ier f lavor than cow’s—and a
splash of wine in the dough,
be it Marsala, vermouth, or
whatever is available. Today,
Angie’s grandfather uses
lemon juice and white vinegar.
Making cannoli requires
some effort: You have to roll
out the dough (Angie suggests
using a pasta machine), deep-
fry the shells, and use a piping
bag to fill them just before
serving. Don’t skip this; the
contrast of the crisp shell and
creamy filling is critical. And
feeling one shatter delicately
between your teeth proves it
worthwhile. As Angie says,
“It’s a dessert that can make
you feel so grown up, but also
just like a kid again.” A New York City chef has fine-tuned her southern
Italian family’s recipe BY STACY ADIMANDO
Cannoli RANGESICILIAN SWEETS
Cannoli,
Grandpa’s Way
Crisp, bubbly, and filled
with sweetened ricotta,
cannoli are the pride of
many Sicilian bakers.