Welcome to the first of many Fill-up Fridays!

WHAT IS FILL-UP FRIDAY?!
I will attempt recipes I find online as well as new things I come up with along the way. Get your taste buds ready for some eats! Please let me know what you think!

If you have suggestions for future Fill-up Fridays, please feel free to comment.

Cannolis here! Get your Cannoli before they are gone!

I found this recipe online - http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/cannoli-95546
Please visit this site for step by step instructions provided by the author!

SHELLS
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened
2 egg yolks
3⁄4 cup white wine
shortening, for frying

FILLING
4 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1⁄2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1⁄3 cup finely chopped maraschino cherry
1⁄4 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream, optional

Here is my process and comments on how I feel I can make a better cannoli next time around!

Please excuse the lighting in my kitchen... I am working on improving it.

To start, I cut up the cherries and laid them out to dry. The cherries need to be on the dry side to keep the cannoli from getting soggy.

Chop! Chop! Chop!

Then, I started on the dough as this needs the most time to work. I did not have white wine required and substituted some water and cherry juice from the jar of Maraschino cherries. From what I had on hand, I figured this would match the qualities of the wine. As far as I can tell, It matched quite well. The only issue it created was the missing tart flavor in the dough. If you know of other simple ways to create this taste, please comment!

Next, I worked on the filling. I did not have powdered sugar and substituted normal sugar. This is an issue as it does not help keep the filling from becoming more liquid than whipped when mixed with other liquids. I also skipped the part of the recipe that states to press the cheese out to void it of as much liquid as possible. I did this because it did not seem to have much liquid to it... This was a mistake that I realized while breaking it up while stirring the other ingredients.

....I hope you see a trend forming ... I ended up with too much liquid in my filling. It was not an issue as it held well, but from what I have seen in shops and on shows.. it should be a little more on the stiff side than what it was. I will be taking the time to dry the needed ingredients on my next attempt.

In order to fill the cannolis once they are ready, Just take a zip-lock back and cut a small portion of the corner.

Once I had the filling in the fridge, I did some preparing of a cannoli tube, chocolate chips, and cleaned up my work area.

If you have access to cannoli tubes, these would be best. I had to make do with rolled aluminum foil. I created a roll by folding a piece of foil in half, then rolling it from one end to the desired form.

At this point, the dough was ready to be prepared. Oh how I envy those with a pasta press. The cannoli dough should be pressed/rolled out into a thin sheet. As you can see below, my initial rolling job was not thin enough, but allowed me to make sections. Each section was able to make two cannoli rolls once I pressed them out further. The first cannoli roll I fried was the original thickness, and then I moved to creating a more flaky roll.

I pressed into the thin dough in order to create more flakes. I am not sure if the fact that my rolls were not able to be completely submerges while frying or if the missing wine played a part here as well... anyone have experience with this issue?

After preparing the dough, I took the wider end to the cannoli form. I loosely rolled the dough and form. To close the roll, brush egg white onto the edge of the dough and then lightly press it to the roll. This will act as a glue when the dough is in the fryer.

ALMOST THERE! At this point, I had my shells and filling ready! My cherries and chocolate ready! TIME TO FILL! Simply hold a shell to the cut corner of the zip-lock and then squeeze to fill about 2/3 of the shell. This will help you avoid a mess coming out the back. Flip it around and finish filling. Doing it this way will allow for a full but clean cannoli. Then take your toppings and press them to each end.