When we were in Sicily, I munched down on one of these beauties and I became a cannoli monster. I couldn’t walk past a stand without having a strop! I’ve been meaning to make these bad boys ever since. I finally got round to buying the cannoli steel tubes and that’s the only bit of kit you need.

I made them and they were delicious but they really do taste nicer walking around Sicily. Go in October, it’s cheap, quiet and still nice and warm. It really caught us by surprise. The only snag was when I got bitten by a mosquito on both ankles and the only skinny part of me became definitionless cankles! 

Cannoli

Makes 12

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 90ml of white wine
• 25g butter
• 2 cups ricotta
• 3/4 cup of icing sugar
• 500ml sunflower oil

1. Mix the salt, sugar and flour and then rub in the butter.
2. Stir in the egg yolk. Add the wine a spoon at a time until the pastry just comes together.
3. Wrap in cling film and chill for half an hour.
4. Mix the ricotta and icing sugar thoroughly and chill for half an hour
5. Divide the pastry into four and roll out each quarter. Using those quarters, cut out three four inch rounds.
6. Heat the oil (I drop a piece of pastry to check that it’s ready)
7. Wrap the pastry around the cannoli tube and make sure they’re overlapped and sealed in the middle. Fan out the edge a bit so you get a nice curl on each end.
8. I use a metal kebab skewer and slide the tube onto it (it’s a really safe way to slide the cannoli in and out of the oil).
9. Fry the cannoli for about 1-2 minutes each and try to turn them in the oil for an even cook.
10. As soon as they’re cool enough, slide them off the tubes and let them cool.
11. Pipe the ricotta mixture into the pastry to order (they go soggy otherwise).

Here were a few more gorgeous sights we beheld: