2.14.2011

Cannoli Crepes


Happy Valentine's Day! Dave and I have been eating like royalty tonight. Dinner was perfectly cooked filet mignon (thanks to Dave!), with steamed broccoli and seasoned mini potatoes. Delicious!

Now we are in the process of preparing dessert...Cannoli Crepes. Now, I can't really post the recipe yet, since the crepe batter is chilling, and I don't want to put it up on the blog 'til we know it's good. But I made the cannoli filling, and it is simple and amazing!

Cannoli Cream
3c very dry ricotta
3/4c granulated sugar (I might have used a bit less...just add it to taste)
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Drain the ricotta until very dry. This could be done overnight in a colander, but I wrapped my ricotta in a double layer of paper towels, and changed it every time I saw it was saturated (maybe 5 or 6 times?) This was easy to do while Dave and I prepared dinner.
2. Mix with sugar and vanilla in a food processor until smooth.
3. Chill until ready to use.

That's it! I know some people like lemon/candied citron in their cannoli, but I prefer it as-is.

I'll be back in a bit to post the crepe recipe, and hopefully a picture or 2!
(About 3 hrs later...)
I'm back! They were awesome, and I added a picture to the top of this post! Now that we ate them, I can share the crepe recipe.

Sweet Crepes
2 large eggs
3/4c milk
1/2c water
1c flour
3 tbs melted butter
butter, for coating the pan
2 1/2 tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs of your favorite liquor (optional, and I left this out)

Directions:
1. In a blender or food processor, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds
2. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.
3. Heat a small non-stick pan over medium high. Add a small amount of butter, just to coat. Pour about 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook another 10 seconds and remove.
4. Lay them out flat so they can cool, and continue until all batter is gone. After they have coold you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. When using frozen crepes, thaw on a rack before gently peeling apart.

To serve, I put some of the cannoli cream from top to bottom along the center of a crepe, added mini chocolate chips, and rolled up. We served these with strawberries. If you are wondering..."Where are the mini chips in the picture above?"...I decided that it was too hard to see them, so I drizzled some chocolate sauce on top instead, just for the picture.

Enjoy!

Crepe Recipe from Alton Brown. I made up the cannoli cream recipe after looking at many online- they were all quite similar.