Add water if necessary to bring the dough uniformly together.
Cover the dough and let it sit for about 30 minutes.
Roll the dough out on a well floured surface.
Cut the dough that matches with our cannoli tubes. In our case that means 4" / 10cm diameter circles. Cannoli cones require an ellipse shape which is achieved by rolling out the cut out circle sideways only. Rework the leftover dough until there's no more left.
If a pasta machine is available enjoy its possibilities and the even dough. Atlas 150 settings 7.
Make the ellipse shape by sending the circles through the pasta machine.
Roll the dough onto the cannoli tubes. While placing the dough onto the tubes is fairly easy, rolling the cones need a bit of fiddling to find the best angle for perfect dough distribution.
Brush the overlapping dough with egg whites to make them stick together better.
Or simply use a bit of water.
Press the overlapping edges onto each other.
Heat oil to 345°F - 355°F / 175°C - 180°C which is just below most oil's smoke point then place the Cannoli tubes in.
Fry until golden brown, about 1 - 3 minutes. We can deep fry them or use a skillet with less oil. Flip them over as necessary to get an even color.
Once they got the lovely golden brown color take them out and let them drip off any excess oil.
Grab the metal tubes with a dry kitchen cloth and pull off the Cannoli shells. Use a fork or knife to slide them off if necessary.
If our favorite ricotta tends to overflown with liquid, drain it in advance.
Cut the dried fruit up into size that will surely get through the hole of our piping attachment.
Beat the drained ricotta, mascarpone together then mix in the fruits and honey or sweetener of choice. Leave some fruits out for decoration if desired.
Load the piping bag up then fill the cannoli shells.
Dunk the cannoli ends into finely diced dried fruit, crushed pistachios or chocolate chips as desired.
Notes
Once the shells are stuffed the moisture from the cheese filling starts to seep into them making them soft in a day or so. Keep shells and filling separately until consumption.