Coconut cream, Ricotta & Water Chestnut Cannoli

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup Valcom coconut cream
• 300g ricotta*
• 1/2 cup pure icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1/3 cup Valcom water chestnuts, finely diced
• 24 baby cannoli shells
• 60g dark chocolate baking bits, melted
• 4 tbs pistachio nuts, finely chopped
• Extra:
• Pure icing sugar for dusting
• *Try to buy a wedge of fresh ricotta from an Italian delicatessen counter, as it's drier than the tub variety. If you buy the ricotta in a tub, drain it in the refrigerator for at least an hour, to remove the excess liquid.

Method

1. Soak the water chestnuts in cold water for 15min to remove the taste of the brine. Drain then dice into very small pieces.
2. Mix together the coconut cream, ricotta, icing sugar & vanilla paste.
3. Add the diced water chestnuts and combine.
4. If the mixture is too loose and will be difficult to pipe into the cannoli shells, then add more ricotta.
5. Dip each end of the empty cannoli shell into the melted chocolate, then lay them on a baking sheet on a tray, to firm up.
6. Cut a small corner off a freezer bag or use a piping bag. Fill the bag with the cream mixture and pipe from one end to the centre of the shell, then pipe from the other end to the centre. Repeat until all shells have been filled.
7. Gently pick up a cannoli and dip the cream ends into a small bowl of pistachio crumbs. Repeat for all the cannoli.
8. To serve, dust pure icing sugar over each cannoli.

Product used in recipe

• Valcom - Coconut Cream
• Valcom - Water Chestnut Sliced