Cannoli Cream Puffs

This year we wanted to have a quiet, family new years’ eve. Really, in the last few weeks there was so much work and so much stress for my husband and me that we came to the conclusion that a quiet evening is just what we need.

But, as is always the case, the telephone rang and I heard the expected question: “Vera, where are you going for New Years’ eve? Are you in for some time together?” My good friend wanted to bring together a few families in her home and the idea was for the little kids to enjoy themselves. How to say no? Why take away a few hours of fun to my son Marco and the rest of the kids who can’t wait for the night when everything is allowed. And then came the second expected question: “You make such beautiful treats, why don’t you make some for the kids?”. Of course, it was already clear that the idea of a quiet family night was gone, and that instead of that, I will spend the day in the kitchen and the night chasing after kids.

Then I had a new dilemma. What kind of treat to make? How to make everyone happy and not spend the whole day in the kitchen? Since I knew one desert wasn’t going to be enough I needed to find something that is made fast and easy. And something that will be appealing to kids. Searching through Pinterest I found an interesting photo: Cream Puffs. Hmmm, not a bad idea. Not so complicated and there is hardly a person that doesn’t like this tasty treat. And since there will be so many kids, I thought I could put a little chocolate filling instead of classic filling. There was not much thinking, because I had something like this on my mind for a long time: Cannoli filling with chocolate which I saw on the Cooking Classy blog. My final decision for the first desert was: Cannoli Cream Puffs and that is it! What ever will be, will be

And so, everything in my head was ready and very quickly the kitchen was smelling of Puff crusts. There were no difficulties with the filling either, so very quickly, I was at the final phase: filling the Cannoli Cream Puffs. Of course, with years of experience, all of my doses are bigger than the usual ones because the two termites (my husband and my son) came for their doses while I was still in the process of preparing.

And here, this is the end result of the first part of the “new years’ rush”.I took dome photos, did dish washing and very quickly, I had to move to round two of this story. But enough for now, I hope you will like this desert just as my husband, who has already had more than his fair share 🙂 .

Cannoli Cream Puffs

OMGChocolateDesserts.com

What to make when you are called for New Year’s eve with a few families with little kids? Maybe the solution is a pile of tasty Cannoli Cream Puffs. We will see!

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Ingredients

Pastry Puffs:

1 cup hot water

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 Tbsp. white sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

Chocolate cannoli Filling:

1 3/4 cup whole milk ricotta (drained if needed)

1 3/4 cup mascarpone cheese

3/4 cup icing (confectioners) sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

3 Tbsp cocoa powder

Garnish:

Icing (confectioners) sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425° F,place the wire rack in center of the oven, and line a pan with parchment paper .
Over medium heat in a medium saucepan, combine hot water, butter, sugar and salt and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Add flour all at once and stirring constantly and vigourously cook until mixture clears the sides of the pan and forms a ball around a spoon in the middle (2-3 minutes).
Remove from heat and add eggs, one at a time and stir quickly and vigourously, until the each egg is combined before you add next egg. When you add all eggs stir more until the batter become smooth and shiny.
Transfes batter to piping bag with a large star tip and pipe batter onto prepared pan, leaving about 2 inches between each one.
Bake for 15 minutes at 425°, then reduce heat to 350° F. and cook for about another 10 minutes, or until golden
Do not open oven while they’re cooking!!!
Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Filling:
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine ricotta, mascarpone and sugar and beat well until light and fluffy. Add cinnamon, vanilla and cocoa and mix.
Place filling to piping bag fitted with a large star tip. With a sharp knife cut pastries in half and pipe the filling outside of the bottom half . Put the tops back, dust with powdered sugar.