I begged a place back home to make them since they have a great gluten free menu, but the owner said it wouldn't work. Pshh! Whatever. I'll make my own. No disease or allergy will keep me from that delicious little pastry for the rest of my life. I guess it's time to take matters into my own hands. Who would have thought that in the area I live NO WHERE sells cannoli tubes!? Not me! I love cannoli! After going to about a million stores and not finding what I needed I decided to take the advice I saw online... go to a lowes or home depot and have tubing cut for you. OK! Well I got to lowes and the guy said they "pre-grease" their pipes, so that was out but he recommended a few places I could go since I'm new to the area. After calling about 7 stores INCLUDING an Italian market I gave up and ordered off of Amazon. Including shipping it was only like $1 more than the ones I saw on bed bath and beyond's website. Unfortunately for me, this means no cannoli until my package arrives in 3-5 business days. WAHHHH :'(. I still can't believe an Italian market doesn't have the tools to make cannoli! That's like a staple! I wonder what else they don't have... Pasta? Anywho, I still wanted some sort of creamy, cheesy, crispy snack/dessert. And what Shannon wants, Shannon gets :-D So I decided to wing it and I created a Raspberry Mocha Cream Puff Thing. That's what I'll call it, unless you have any better ideas?
"Raspberry Mocha Cream Puff Thing"
So I guess I'll share how I created this fattening summer dessert.
First, a Cream Puff:
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 7/8 cup Pamela's baking and pancake mix ("flour")
- 4 eggs
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the water, vanilla, salt and sugar. Bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling take off the heat and pour in the flour and stir until it's a smooth ball. Let that cool for about 10 minutes. Once it's not super hot mix in the eggs, one at a time thoroughly beating the mixture, It should be smooth and pretty runny. Grease a cupcake tray and fill it about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way with the batter and bake for 30-35 minutes at 400*. I like to GENTLY (cuz they're pretty hollow) brush them with egg and sprinkle with sugar for the last few minutes. Take them out, let them cool and cut the bottom off. You WANT this muffin top ;)
Then to Fill:
8oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick of butter (1/4 cup), softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 - 3/4 cup of fresh raspberries
5 teaspoons mocha powder
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips
In a mixer mash the raspberries and granulated sugar together. Add cream cheese and butter and beat until creamy. Add mocha powder and vanilla and beat until mixed. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time and mix until you get a frosting like consistency, it will be a little thinner, then incorporate the mini chocolate chips.
Assembly:
Scoop the filling into the pastries like they were little bowls, then garnish with fresh fruit. I chose strawberries and raspberries.
You could pretty much use any fruit you want with this recipe. I considered a red, white and blue theme since it's July, but as you can see I didn't consider it for long :-P Hope ya like it!
