Jamie's chocolate cannoli

Ingredients

• 2 large free-range eggs (one beaten, to use for sealing the cannoli)
• 60 ml sweet wine or Marsala
• 45 ml olive oil
• 250 g plain or Tipo 00 flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 litre sunflower oil, for frying
• 200 g dark chocolate (70%)
• 100 g toasted hazelnuts
• 600 g quality ricotta cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1½ tbsp runny honey
• 2 heaped tsp good-quality cocoa powder
• 3 tsp (15 ml) grappa

It is helpful to buy some metal cannoli tubes, which you can get online – just squeeze them to 2 cm in diameter before use. Alternatively, cannelloni tubes can be used

Resting time: 1 hour.

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whip 1 egg with the sweet wine and 2 tablespoons + 1 tsp (45 ml) 3 of oil. Gradually add the flour (you may not need it all) until it comes together into a ball of dough. Knead for a few minutes, or until smooth and silky. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for 1 hour.
2. Pour the sunflower oil into a large, sturdy pan on a medium-high heat, and leave it to get to 180°C on a thermometer.
3. Meanwhile, roll the dough into a large sausage about 4 cm in diameter. Keeping the rest of the dough covered with a clean damp tea towel, slice off a ½-cm-thick disc and roll into a ball, then flatten out on a flour-dusted surface to 2 mm thick. Lightly dust your metal cannoli tubes with flour (or use lightly oiled dried cannelloni tubes), then wrap a circle of dough around each, sealing the edges with beaten egg. Working in batches, carefully lower into the hot oil for just 1 minute, to get lightly golden. Remove to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain for 3 minutes, then squeeze the moulds and gently slide off the cannoli. Repeat until you’ve used up all the dough.
4. Melt the chocolate. Pound the hazelnuts in a pestle and mortar until fine. Drain the ricotta, then blitz in a food processor with the vanilla paste, honey, cocoa and grappa until just smooth. Spoon into a piping bag with a star nozzle, and twist the bag to give tension, then pipe the filling into the cannoli.
5. Drizzle with chocolate, sprinkle with nuts, and serve.

Recipe from Jamie Cooks Italy by Jamie Oliver, published by Penguin Random House © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited (2018 Jamie Cooks Italy), photography: David Loftus.