Every year for her birthday morning tea, my workmate B brings in a box full of cannoli from Corica Pastries for everyone in our team. I’ve been working with B for over 3 years now and the birthday cannoli is something I really look forward to. I only eat cannoli once a year – at B’s birthday morning tea – and every year it is simply magnificent! Thank you, B, for this beautiful treat!
Cannoli are a Sicilian pastry dessert consisting of a fried pastry tube filled with a sweet creamy filling such as ricotta or custard. This year’s Corica’s cannoli were half filled with vanilla custard, half with chocolate custard. You could see the team’s eyes light up at the sight and sweet smell of these yummy things!
I love cannoli, not just for their delicious taste, but also for their wonderful textures – the crispy fried pastry shell and the soft, smooth, creamy custard. B stored the box of cannoli in the fridge when she got to work, so there was an added pleasure: cold custard – I love custard cold when it’s perfectly smooth and creamy. It’s the same kind of pleasure I get eating any cold creamy dessert – tiramisu, banana pudding or even ice cream.
The chocolate custard looked nicely dark brown, a rich chocolatey custard. When I look at that custard, I am so tempted to stick my finger into it!
It’s always hard to decide which filling I enjoy most – vanilla custard?
Or chocolate custard? This year, I think the vanilla won! But they were both wonderful. We finished morning tea with tell-tale cannoli icing sugar trails on our clothes and faces.
My sister Juji and I talked about our love for cannoli with Conor from Hold the Beef at the Largesse dinner at Restaurant Amusé (of COURSE we would be talking about food while eating food! :D) and one of the things we discussed was why cannoli pastry is so good. Two things: because it’s fried (and let’s face it, most fried things taste good) and because many recipes for cannoli pastry include lard. Yep, lard. And I savour every indulgent morsel, once a year.
Corica Pastries
106 Aberdeen Street
Northbridge WA 6003
Telephone: (08) 9328 8196
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh my, that looks too good for words. I’ve never had Corica’s famous apple pie (or was it strudel?), looks like I’ve gotta go sample some of its delights, stat!
I can agree, they were so, so, so good, it was my first time! Thanks B for the treat.
Wow – I would love to try to make these at home!
oh lard, is there anything you can’t do? :)
We always get cannoli when we get pizza. They make their own. I eat one and Ric eats three. Three! Never gains a pound either. Sometimes life just isn’t fair!
These look absolutely fantastic! I love custard also.. and who doesn’t like fried things, haha!? Also, I don’t know why more pastries don’t use lard: I mean, it’s very bad for you, but shortening and butter aren’t healthy either. And baked goods made with lard have such an unbelievable texture… yum!
Those look unbelievably awesome. I have never seen those in Edmonton – now my taste buds and Buddha belly are sad.
When I saw your tweet about this I thought you meath cannelloni but I was mistaken. I don’t think I’ve ever had cannoli before, but I can pretty much tell you now I’ll like it!
They look amazing!
Oh?! Two flavours in one?!?!
I try so hard to like these – I’ve never tried them but I just can’t imagine the textures going together well without making a huge mess and the shell just shattering. I think I’d suck the custard all out first then eat the shell :D
Wei-Wei
Next year I’m coming to help Workmate B celebrate her birthday! :-D I’ll bring a nice gift of course. ;-) Happy belated to her. Those cannoli look *fantastic.* Frankly? I don’t know if I could share! :-( And I’m otherwise generous by nature. As for lard…it really does, unfortunately, produce the best-tasting products. An elderly neighbor lady used it in her cakes and cookies; a few Mexican restaurants here use it. Always the tastiest. Now why couldn’t lard be good for you and applesauce BAD?? ;-p
I miss Corica so much! When I was studying in Perth, I used to buy their famous apple strudel whenever the craving called for it. Can’t wait to revisit again!
Ooh that vanilla custard looks so luscious and yummy. I know many Singaporeans who’ll gladly hand-carry back pastries from Corica on flights home!
Charlene,
I’ve never had anything else from Corica, just these cannoli. I’ll be interested to hear about the delights you try!
K,
Heheh, now you have truly lived. :)
Lisa,
I would be too lazy to do it myself but good on you if you make your own cannoli!
juji,
Lard, crackling, bacon… all magic, conquering words/things!
kathy,
I’m with you, only eating one! When I was younger and on my feet all day, not in an office job, I could eat anything I wanted and not gain any weight. Now I have to be much more restrained. You’re right, it just isn’t fair. :)
Megan,
Heheh, so sad, all the yummiest most cravable things seem to be unhealthy.
Jon,
Aw. I hope one day you can try them somewhere. I guess look out for an Italian bakery?
Craig,
Oh yes, I’m sure you’d love it. If you can’t get them in South Africa don’t worry, you’ll be able to find them in Sydney for sure. :D
Tina,
Yep.
Wei-Wei,
The shell is crispy but doesn’t shatter and make a big mess – the most messy aspect is actually the icing sugar dusting! I hope you’ll give it a go sometime.
Cindy,
Heheheh, yeah, so sad that the yummiest stuff seems to always be bad! I do enjoy healthy foods like vegetables but never in the same way as the unhealthy stuff. B is very generous – she made sure to bring enough cannoli so everyone could have one, so no one had to share and no one missed out.
Chelley,
I’ve never had the strudel (never been to Corica, actually)! But now I really want to try it.
Dea,
Heheheh. Just like what we Perth people do with Krispy Kremes when flying back home from over east. :)
I helped my nonna make these as a kid, she would sell them to Italian stores in Fremantle. But where is the ricotta? Pretty sure we use ricotta for the fillings. Is this an Aussie take?
I’ve seen cannoli with ricotta filling as well as custard filling. No idea if custard is an Aussie take – I’m no expert on cannoli! :)
I’m Sicilian and traditionally they use ricotta. Some people use custard but it tastes wrong to me. But everyone is different so its up to your taste buds to decide :)