Mini Cannolis

These little petit fours-sized teats are made using a bandy snap cookie as the crispy shell.

Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients

  • Cannoli Shells:
  • 2 Tbsp corn syrup
  • 2 Tbsp fancy molasses
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp brandy
  • 1 recipe basic vanilla pastry cream, divided into 2 (still warm)
  • 1 recipe caramel pastry cream, divided into 2
  • 2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • peanut butter, flaked sweetened coconut, chopped pistachios, sprinkles

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 °F and line multiple baking trays with parchment paper.
  2. Bring the corn syrup and molasses up to a simmer over medium heat. Remove the pot from the heat and add the butter, stirring until melted. Sift in the flour and sugar together and whisk in. Stir in the brandy.
  3. Drop small teaspoonfuls of the batter onto the baking trays, leaving 3 inches between each other. Bake for about 10 minutes until the cookies are browned and bubbling. Let the cookies cool for about a minute, to set a little, then lift then carefully and wrap them over a cannoli tube or other doweling (about ¾ inch diameter) and allow them to cool.
  4. For the pastry cream, stir in the chopped chocolate into half of the warm pastry cream
    and chill completely. Stir peanut butter into half of the caramel pastry cream to taste.

Cannoli variations:

  1. Vanilla Cream with Sprinkles
  2. Caramel Peanut Butter
  3. Caramel Coconut (coconut sprinkled on outside ends)
  4. Chocolate Pistachio (pistachios sprinkled on outside)