Choco-Matcha Cannoli

Why This Choco-Matcha Cannoli Works

During mixing, the flour, cocoa, sugar, and butter turn into a crumbly mix where tiny bits of fat coat the flour. Once the egg and wine go in, that dry mix pulls together into a smooth dough. After a short rest in the fridge, the dough relaxes, so it rolls out thin without springing back. Thin dough means the shells fry up crisp instead of tough. In the hot oil, the water in the dough steams out and the butter melts, leaving little air pockets that keep the cannoli shells light and snappy.

While the shells cool, the ricotta and mascarpone are beaten until they blend into one smooth filling. The powdered sugar and matcha dissolve into the cheeses, so the filling stays thick but creamy, not runny. As it sits for a bit, the filling firms up just enough to hold its shape inside the shells. Mini chocolate chips stay solid, so each bite has a little crunch against the crisp shell and soft matcha cream.

Mistakes To Avoid

Rolling the dough too thick makes the shells heavy and bready instead of crisp. In the oil, thick dough takes longer to cook, so the outside can get dark while the inside stays a bit soft. Once filled, these shells bend and feel dense instead of light and snappy.

Frying at the wrong temperature often wrecks the shells. When the oil is too cool, the dough soaks up oil, turning the cannoli greasy and limp. When the oil is too hot, the outside burns fast while the inside stays undercooked and can collapse as it cools.

Skipping the chilling time for the dough leads to shrinking and warping in the fryer. Warm, relaxed dough doesn’t hold its shape on the tube, so the shells can open up, slide off, or fry unevenly, giving lopsided cannoli that are hard to fill.

Using ricotta with too much liquid leaves the filling runny. As it sits in the shells, the wet filling seeps into the fried dough, making the cannoli soggy and causing the ends to slump instead of holding a clean, piped shape.