Cannoli

In Sicily, no Sunday lunch is complete without a few of these decadent, happiness-stuffed, pastries.

Why are they so popular?

Maybe it's the crunch of the fried pastry tube.

Perhaps the sinfully rich ricotta filling that gushes from both sides.

Or the colorful flourish of dipping the ends into crushed pistachio.

No, it is indeed the genius of combining all three of these elements that make it one of the most popular sweets in Sicily... my apologies to Gelato.

Fortunately for me I have never taken a decent photo of the cannoli here before, which means I just had to go out and buy a few so I could take a picture for this post.

Woe is me.

Sunday being the popular family lunch day that it is, most pasticcerie will make mass amounts of cannoli in advance because they know they'll all be gone before dusk. For other days though, they are only made to order so that the filling doesn't make the crisp, pastry tube get all soggy.

The most traditional filling is sweetened ricotta, but cream, and chocolate cream, (I have also tasted pistachio cream) are very popular too. To avoid confusion, as the ricotta and plain cream can look very similar, pasticcerie may also color code them by dipping the ends into different chopped nuts or mini chocolate chips.

(In my photo they were all just dipped in pistachio, but the shop owner was careful to point out which one was the ricotta.)
 
They had the much deserved attention of a superstar for the entire 10 minutes that was their lifespan, and this is their epilogue:

I will remember the happy time we shared together.
May they rest in pancia*.
Amen.

*pancia = stomach