• Before starting, place the ricotta in a sieve over a bowl and store it in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight if possible. It’s important to drain the ricotta or it’ll be too soft for filling the cannoli.

Making the cannoli dough

• Add the flour, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa powder to a large bowl and mix together until thoroughly combined.
• Cut the cold butter into cubes then work it into the flour mixture with your finger until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Make a well in the middle of flour and add the beaten egg, vinegar and marsala. Mix everything together with a fork until a rough dough forms.
• Tip the dough onto a clean work surface and knead for 7-10 minutes. This is the secret to getting all those bubbles in your cannoli shells.
• Once kneaded, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Alternatively you can leave the dough overnight.

Rolling out the dough

• Set up your pasta machine then heat a large pot of oil (2-3 inches deep) to 356F (180C) using a candy thermometer.
• Lightly dust your work surface and pasta machine with flour. Cut the dough in half then flatten one half of the dough so it can fit through the widest setting of your pasta machine (usually number 0).
• Pass the dough through the widest setting then fold one end of the dough over the other (see photos 7 & 8). Pass the dough through the widest setting again and repeat 3-4 times.
• Now your dough is ready for rolling, pass the dough through the second widest setting (usually number 1) and continue until the dough is half of ⅛ inch thick (2mm). If using a Marcato Atlas pasta machine this is number 6.

Rolling pin method (optional)

• If you don’t have a pasta machine you can simply roll the dough out with a rolling pin on a light floured surface until very thin (2mm or half of ⅛ inch if possible).

Shaping

• Cut out rounds using a 4-5 inch round cutter (you can make them smaller or bigger if you like). Working in batches, wrap the cut out dough around a cannoli tube using a tiny dot of egg white to seal.
• Carefully, fry the cannoli in the hot oil until golden brown and puffed up. Drain on kitchen paper. If you don’t have many cannoli tubes, be careful they aren’t too hot before re-using.

Make the filling

• Put the drained ricotta and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl and mix together until combined. Fill a piping bag with the mixture and pipe it into the cannoli shells. Add a slice of candied orange to each end, serve.

Filling options

• You can fold chocolate chips into the ricotta if you like or sprinkle nuts on the ends instead of candied orange.