Sunday, December 6, 2009

Shame on me...

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

I feel guilty. I have practically abandoned my blog. I haven't, however, abandoned my baking. I've lost over 10 pounds since my wedding (YAY!) so I HAVE abandoned eating my baked goods. :-)

I must admit I wasn't thrilled with the way the cannoli turned out. I love cannoli but I thought that the ones I made were merely okay. On top of that, the pictures turned out HORRIBLE! One of these days I'm going to learn how to make fabulous looking desserts and how to take fabulous pictures of my fabulous looking desserts. That day, however, is not today. Therefore, I have no pictures of the filled cannoli (imagine these cannoli wrappers filled with something resembling oozing pus...mmmm....pus).


To quickly recap my cannoli making experience I'll just say that the dough didn't have enough liquid (I ended up having to modify the recipe a little). I made three fillings...plain, dulce de leche, and peanut butter (with chocolate covered cannoli wrappers). The process took several HOURS longer than I was expecting and the results were only eh. For me, making cannoli is a little like childbirth...I will only try it again after enough time has passed that I forget how horrible the experience was.

It wasn't all bad, though, I made them while my mom and I watched a really stupid movie about Jane Austen's life. It was a bonding experience. :-)