Cannoli Teleportation

Have you ever tasted or smelled something that instantly took you back in time? Well, the other night I went back to being a 9-year-old tasting my mom’s homemade cannoli at Christmas time in our flour-dusted kitchen. It was cannoli teleportation.

(This was a post from several years ago, but since the holidays are hovering closer, I wanted to share this recipe again.)

I am a novice cannoli maker and was spurred into a cannoli frenzy because I promised a friend I’d bring them to an Italian dinner.  I’d only made cannoli shells one time before and didn’t quite have the hang of it.

I love the fact that her recipe is written on a notepad from my brother Bernie’s Insurance company.

It was a challenge because I had two recipes. One I’d written down myself, with input from Angelina Belculfine, my mom’s best friend and the most amazing baker. The other was in my mom’s handwriting. It’s framed on my dining room wall because it’s a classic.

Mom was adorable, but neither accurate, nor a great speller, so I wasn’t sure whether her teaspoon meant tablespoon, etc.  But I mostly trusted her and just went for it.

Then, I HAD to eat one because, how could I bring them tomorrow without knowing how they tasted? So I filled the smallest one, and dusted it with powdered sugar.

I’m certain mom was beaming because it tasted just like hers.  I ran upstairs and made my son try it because I wanted him to know the delicious Italian pastries I got to taste as a kid. He loved it.

So, once again, through food, I was teleported to 1965 and very happy to be in my mom’s New Brighton kitchen with powdered sugar all over me.

If you’d like to be teleported to 1965, below is her recipe. Mom loved making them with half chocolate filling and half vanilla because her favorites were from a store called Caputo’s, or possibly Cabuto’s (with Mom’s accent you could never be sure). I think she said it was in Pittsburgh, but I can’t find any store with that name now. However, I was able to find a recipe for cannoli filling from a website called CaputoBrothersCreamery.com.

They make their own shells, which is why they’re not giving the recipe. I like Mom’s shell recipe because they’re a little lighter than the ones you normally find in stores or online, and they have a touch of wine in them, which gives them a wonderful flavor.

Cannoli by Mamma Tunno

[cooked-recipe id=”20614″]

But be sure to change your shoes before you bake, I didn’t and now mine are a floured mess – just like Mom’s always were!