My First Daring Bakers Challenge
I hate to say it, but I am addict.
I am addicted to online food challenges, I don't know why, but I am.
It's not like people can actually taste my food, they have to go by what I write and the pictures I post. I'm not a professional writer or Photographer, and unfortunately they are not hobbies of mine either, so why do I subject myself to the torture of having your pictures judged? I guess I am just a masochistic chef, because once again, I have decided to do a challenge.
I am not just doing any ol' challenge either, I am doing THE DARING BAKERS CHALLENGE, people from all over the world log on once a month ( you must be a member to participate) and happily accept the challenge that is thrown at them.
I guess I couldn't have picked a better time to actually do the Challenge ( i missed last months deadline), than this one. It is one of my FAVORITES. It was of course, Cannoli's. Not only were we making Cannoli's, we were making them from scratch!!!
I've eaten dozens of Cannoli's in my lifetime, but not once have I actually thought of making them at home. It's one of those desserts that just seemed like they just needed to be bought and enjoyed at your favorite Italian Bakery, mine of course being Venieros in NYC.
I was soo excited, I thought for sure I had this one down. I was going to make the best cannoli's my eyes have ever seen...haha...yea right! The Cannoli Gods had another thought in mind for me.
Cannoli dough could possibly be the dough from hell, leaving my other arch nemesis, phyllo, light years behind. Not only is the dough a pain in the butt to mix, and figure out if you even got it right, it is even more of a pain to roll it out and get the right thickness. Some people on the website chose to use a Pasta Machine to thin out the dough, that would have been my option as well....but...I don't have a pasta machine.
After about 5 minutes of trying to beat the crap out of the dough and roll it until it was the thickness of a dollar bill, I decided to cut 3" rounds, and then thin that out by rolling it out some more.
The other part of the challenge was to make the filling. I don't use Ricotta too much, so I thought about using Marscapone or even cream cheese, but then I figured I wanted to stay as close to traditional as possible. I contemplated making my own Ricotta, but I had second thoughts and just went with the store bought stuff.
I had 2 ideas for my fillings, I definitely wanted to make a holiday inspired one, but I also wanted to make the traditional one with the chocolate chips and the candied orange pieces.
Again, the Cannoli gods failed to smile upon me.
Why could I not get the filling to a consistency that is what I remember eating at my beloved Venieros?!
I ended up making a white chocolate peppermint filling, but it was a little runny, probably from the melted white chocolate. I refrigerated the filling and filled the shells the next day.
The Shells, as much of a pain as they were, came out of the fryer beautifully. The first was by far the best, but beggars can't be choosy!
Here are some pictures of the finished product!
I am addicted to online food challenges, I don't know why, but I am.
It's not like people can actually taste my food, they have to go by what I write and the pictures I post. I'm not a professional writer or Photographer, and unfortunately they are not hobbies of mine either, so why do I subject myself to the torture of having your pictures judged? I guess I am just a masochistic chef, because once again, I have decided to do a challenge.
I am not just doing any ol' challenge either, I am doing THE DARING BAKERS CHALLENGE, people from all over the world log on once a month ( you must be a member to participate) and happily accept the challenge that is thrown at them.
I guess I couldn't have picked a better time to actually do the Challenge ( i missed last months deadline), than this one. It is one of my FAVORITES. It was of course, Cannoli's. Not only were we making Cannoli's, we were making them from scratch!!!
I've eaten dozens of Cannoli's in my lifetime, but not once have I actually thought of making them at home. It's one of those desserts that just seemed like they just needed to be bought and enjoyed at your favorite Italian Bakery, mine of course being Venieros in NYC.
I was soo excited, I thought for sure I had this one down. I was going to make the best cannoli's my eyes have ever seen...haha...yea right! The Cannoli Gods had another thought in mind for me.
Cannoli dough could possibly be the dough from hell, leaving my other arch nemesis, phyllo, light years behind. Not only is the dough a pain in the butt to mix, and figure out if you even got it right, it is even more of a pain to roll it out and get the right thickness. Some people on the website chose to use a Pasta Machine to thin out the dough, that would have been my option as well....but...I don't have a pasta machine.
After about 5 minutes of trying to beat the crap out of the dough and roll it until it was the thickness of a dollar bill, I decided to cut 3" rounds, and then thin that out by rolling it out some more.
The other part of the challenge was to make the filling. I don't use Ricotta too much, so I thought about using Marscapone or even cream cheese, but then I figured I wanted to stay as close to traditional as possible. I contemplated making my own Ricotta, but I had second thoughts and just went with the store bought stuff.
I had 2 ideas for my fillings, I definitely wanted to make a holiday inspired one, but I also wanted to make the traditional one with the chocolate chips and the candied orange pieces.
Again, the Cannoli gods failed to smile upon me.
Why could I not get the filling to a consistency that is what I remember eating at my beloved Venieros?!
I ended up making a white chocolate peppermint filling, but it was a little runny, probably from the melted white chocolate. I refrigerated the filling and filled the shells the next day.
The Shells, as much of a pain as they were, came out of the fryer beautifully. The first was by far the best, but beggars can't be choosy!
Here are some pictures of the finished product!
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