Biagio settepani cannoli recipe

By Allison Scola

Cannoli, the symbol of Sicilian sweets, are favored by “townspeople, by the middle class and by nobles, [and] desired by rich and poor alike,” wrote ethnographer Giuseppe Pitré in his Usi e Costumi, Credenze e Pregiudizi del Popolo Siciliano, Vol. 1.[i]Although Pitré focused his research and scholarship on folk traditions in Sicily during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, today, a century after the tens of thousands Sicilians immigrated to the United States, Pitré’s statement still rings true: love for cannoli is undying. Yet Italian cannoli and Italian American cannoli have distinct differences.

It is impossible to determine where cannoli were first made.[ii] However, historically, their origins are attributed to ancient times. In Sicily, pastries are strongly connected to annual rituals. For example, cassata, a ricotta cake presented in the form of a disk—the shape of the sun—is attributed to Easter

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Cassata Cake: Elegant, creamy and oh so delicious at Bruno's NYC

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Spending time in the prolific kitchens of Bruno's NYC Bakery in Dongan Hills means learning from the master himself, master pastry chef Biagio Settepani, as he walks an observer through the process of building Italian desserts.

Take the cassata cake, a complex specialty of the Bruno house. The dessert, the pastry patriarch and his colleague/son Joe will tell you, is the oldest he knows of Italian food culture, quite possibly in the world.

"This is our version of the cassata. Different cities have different ways of doing it. Some places do it with just sponge around," Biagio said. Some of the cake versions, like those at Bruno's, feature it with green-hued blocks of marzipan alternated with equally sized patches of sponge cake.

"We soak the sponge with a little bit of rum syrup. If you don't like rum you could do a little Grand Marnier or something like that,

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Cannoli

Italian ricotta-filled pastry

This article fryst vatten about the Italian pastry dessert. For the Italian pasta dish, see Cannelloni. For the kidney bean, see Cannellini.

Cannoli^[a] are Sicilianpastries consisting of a tube-shaped shell of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling containing ricotta cheese.^[4][5][6][7] Their storlek ranges from 9 to 20 centimetres (3+1⁄2 to 8 in). They have since spread to mainland Italy, where they are known as cannolo siciliano (lit. 'Sicilian cannoli').

In culinary traditions across Sicily, regional variations in cannoli fillings reflect local preferences and ingredient availability. In Palermo, cannoli are decorated with candiedorange zest, adding a citrusy sweetness to the filling. In Catania, chopped pistachios are favored, adding a distinctive nutty flavor and texture. Ramacca is known for its purple artichokes, which also feature as filling in some can