Holy Pizza Testing ~ Cannoli Anyone?

It is usually not difficult to scare up a few volunteers who are willing to taste-test my pizzas; this past weekend was no exception.  When I told my neighbors that I needed to test my Holy Cannoli Pizza, they were all over it! 

Not long ago, I was thinking about one of my visits to our daughter Jen in Connecticut.  She lives only a few blocks from what is called the Italian section of town.  On this particularly beautiful fall day, she was at work and I decided to go for a walk to get some exercise.  As I put on my sneakers, I was feeling really good about choosing to do something that would be beneficial for my health.  I walked for quite some time, taking in the beauty of the fall foliage and enjoying the cool, crisp air.  Then, before I knew what was happening, I was within a few feet of Lucibella’s Italian Bakery.  Oh no, now what?  Well, I thought, it would be foolish to be this close and not go in to purchase a cannoli!  Having instantly convinced myself that there was no other choice; I went through that familiar old door straight to dieter’s hell.  As you can probably guess, I did not leave that marvelous little bakery until I had purchased a box full of cannoli and other tasty treats.  What an amazing afternoon!  And when Jen called to ask what I had been doing, I said proudly, “I went for a long walk.”  [Note to self: wipe powdered sugar off face before Jen gets home.]

I created my Holy Cannoli Pizza to pay homage to the cannoli, one of my very favorite desserts.  With just a hint of cocoa and cinnamon in its crunchy shell and a filling of sweetened creamy ricotta studded with bitter chocolate and candied orange peel, I can think of no more perfect, portable dessert. 

In order to replicate the crispy shell of the cannoli, I used a bit of cocoa powder and cinnamon in the dough, stretched it quite thin and then grilled it for 3 to 5 minutes per side directly on the gas grill grates. After the finished crust came off the grill, I spread it with a simple, yet delectable filling of creamy ricotta that I sweetened with confectioners’ sugar and flavored with vanilla, orange zest and chopped bitter chocolate.  I finished the pizza with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar, a sprinkling of chopped pistachio nuts, candied orange peel and more chopped chocolate.   My revised recipe calls for chocolate curls to finish off the pizza – it just looks fancier! 



Holy Cannoli Pizza



I must say that this was not the prettiest looking pizza I have ever made, but it ranked among the top five most delicious of all the pizzas I have made since I began writing Pizza Memoirs.  My husband Charlie loved it and he would not walk across the street for a cannoli (he's not Italian) and Faith and Charlie, two dedicated pizza taste-testers, loved it and said they would not change a thing.  If I could, the only thing I would change would be to make it calorie free!