Ingredients

For the pastry
175g plain flour
25g margarine
red wine
water

For the filling
400g ricotta
40g candied cherries
100g roasted almonds and pistachios
75g icing sugar to add to ricotta
Some icing sugar for dusting
Oil for frying

Method

Sift the flour in a large mixing bowl and rub in the margarine until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add some red wine and enough water to make a dough. Knead until the dough is smooth. Cover the dough with stretch and seal, and leave it to rest.

In the meantime, prepare the filling. Put the ricotta in a bowl and mash it well. Add the chocolate chips, cherries and chopped, roasted almonds and mix well. Add the sugar and continue mixing.

Roll the pastry out thinly, cut it into rounds with a cutter and wrap each round over a metal tube.
Heat some oil in a large saucepan. Deep-fry the rolled pastry in boiling oil until it turns golden brown. Be extra careful when frying since boiling oil can be very dangerous. Drain thoroughly.

Put the cooked cannoli on kitchen paper to absorb the oil.

Mix well the ricotta,75g icing sugar, small pieces of candied cherries and some roasted nuts and pistachios chopped into small pieces. You can also add some sweet liquor.

Fill the pastries with the ricotta mixture once they have cooled. The cannoli should always be filled at the last minute to retain their crunchiness.

You can decorate each end with roasted nuts and pistachios and dust them with icing sugar, especially if you are serving these cannoli for a special occasion.

Anton Dougall is an Expert on Maltese food.