Cannoli Chip & Dip

Very few things drive me crazier than having to fry cannoli shells and praying that they don't come apart, filling 25 small cannoli shells with the cannoli filling and stressing over if the shells lose their crunch because of the moisture... VERY few things. So to deal with this issue, I've found it easier to make it into cannoli chip and dip instead of the traditional tube (I'd occasionally make them the traditional way for esthetic purposes)


Cannoli Chips:
Ingredients:
1. 1 cup all purpose flour
2. 1 tbsp white sugar
3. 1 egg
4. 1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
5. 1/2 tsp white vinegar
6. 1/4 cup water
7. 1/4 tsp of cinnamon
8. Canola/vegetable oil for frying
OPTIONAL: 9. Cinnamon sugar for coating chips in while they're still hot.
OPTIONAL: 10. Powdered sugar for dusting.

Method:
1. Combine all ingredients together until thoroughly mixed. You may want to add more flour depending on how wet & sticky the dough is at this point.
2. Roll dough out on a generously floured surface until it is about 1/4 inch thick.
3. Cut touch as desired (I like cutting it in 3 inch rounds but you can cut it however large or small you'd like. You can even cut the entire rolled dough into triangular shaped-chips)
4. Fill frying pan with about 1 inch of oil and fry on low heat until chips are crispy and golden brown (about 45 seconds to 1 minute)
5. Drain on paper towel.
6. If desired, toss chips in cinnamon sugar as soon as they're fried.


Cannoli Dip: 
Ingredients:
1. 3/4 cup mascarpone cheese
2. 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
3. 2 tbsp heavy cream
4. 1/2 tsp vanilla
5. 3/4 to 1 cup powdered sugar
6. 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Method:
1. Strain ricotta in cheese cloth/strainer to get rid of any excess liquid.
2. Beat mascarpone, ricotta, heavy cream & vanilla together until thoroughly combined.
3. Add powdered sugar and beat until combined (you can add more or less powdered sugar according to how sweet you'd like it)
4. You can also use waffle cones broken up into little pieces if you don't want to make your own.
5. Fold mini chocolate chips into the mixture (you can add more or less)
6. Top with more chocolate chips.


Tips:
1. You can use this same dough recipe to make traditional cannoli. You'd just need more oil for frying & metal cannoli tubes. Can be found here
2. You can add whatever additional ingredients to the dip such as pistachios (common in traditional Italian cannoli), other nuts, candied fruit peel etc.
3. Traditionally, cannoli are made with ricotta so you can use 1 1/2 cups if you can't find or don't want to use mascarpone.