Cannoli are crisp Sicilian pastries filled with ricotta or custard... and they're heavenly. An Italian pasticceria in Sydney's Haberfield makes cannoli the old-fashioned way.

They say cannoli came originally from the Sicilian capital, Palermo, where today they are still found, often smaller in size than the ones found elsewhere. Popular wherever Sicilians have emigrated – including the United States and Australia – cannoli can be found in all shapes and sizes, with many different kinds of filling.

The name means a ‘small tube or reed’ and that is what you get – a curled ‘tube’ of sweet, deep-fried pastry filled with custard or more traditionally, a sweet, thickened ricotta cheese studded with candied fruits, Sicilian style.

At A & P. Sulfaro’s old style Italian pasticceria in the Sydney suburb of Haberfield, the family make a short-crust pastry with a dash of Marsala, roll it out and curl it around short lengths of wooden dowel. The ‘shells’ are then deep fried and when cooled, filled with a sweet ricotta or chocolate custard cream.