cannoli

American  

[kuh-noh-lee, kahn-naw-lee] / kəˈnoʊ li, kɑnˈnɔ li /

plural noun

Italian Cooking.

1. tubular pastry shells stuffed with a sweetened filling of whipped ricotta and often containing nuts, citron, or bits of chocolate.

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Etymology

Origin of cannoli

1940–45; < Italian, plural of cannolo, derivative of canna reed, cane; cannelloni

Explanation

A cannoli is an Italian dessert that consists of a crunchy fried pastry tube filled with sweet cream. When you eat at a Sicilian restaurant, you should definitely try the cannoli. In Italian, cannoli is the plural of cannolo, "small tube," from the Latin root canna, "tube or pipe." In the tradition of pastries like éclairs and cream horns, cannoli have a pastry dough structure surrounding a sweet, creamy filling — in this case, one that's made with ricotta cheese. Cannoli are commonly dipped in chocolate or studded with tiny chocolate chips or chopped nuts.

Example Sentences

What Sacher torte is to Vienna, or kouign-amann to Brittany, or cannoli to Sicily, knafeh Nabulseyeh is to Nablus.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 13, 2023

They go to her house just outside Georgetown, and she cooks this dinner with roast pork, eggplant parm and cannoli.

From Salon • Sep. 13, 2023

Eventually, traditions also became melded together to produce the current Americanized image of pan-Italian food that ranges from pizza to cannoli, which are both regional in Italy.

From National Geographic • Jul. 26, 2023

They married in 1994, under a tree in Prospect Park, with two gay men officiating, before a reception with a “Super Freak” dance break and a heap of cannoli.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 5, 2023

They would maybe stop at Ortelli’s Bakery and see if they could sweet-talk Mrs. Ortelli into giving them a free creamy cannoli or crunchy biscotti.

From "I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919" by Lauren Tarshis

Related Words

• profiterole