Snacks

Don't ever let anyone tell you we don't know how to snack here at the Meinhold estates. Last Saturday was SS @ the Maxfields & they chose the theme 'pasta.' We wanted to do a dessert pasta.

First, I tried making chocolate linguine. It wasn't bad, but even with a cream sauce, it just seemed rich but not desserty. So, then I moved on to chocolate ravioli's which had a sweet ricotta/mascarpone filling with orange zest. That was better, but still not quite right.

Fortunately, Mr. became inspired by the idea of making fried cones out of boiled lasagna noodles. After a few trial errors, he discovered that the could wrap the noodles around a pastry nozzle to get the desired shape and then tap out the metal piece after the outside had hardened. He created a filling & set to work. Here is his recipe...

Lasagna Cannolis

Lasagna noodles
Cooking oil
Mini chocolate chips
Butter
Toffee pieces
Mascarpone cheese
Cream cheese
Ricotta cheese
Sugar
Vanilla extract
Hazelnut syrup

1. Boil lasagna noodles per package instructions. Cut noodles into quarters.
2. Heat a couple inches of oil in medium sauce pan for deep frying. I don't actually have a thermometer for checking the temperature, but you probably want about 300 degrees.
3. Form quartered noodles into "cone" shapes (I used the tip from a pastry bag), hold with tongs and put into oil just until the surface of the pasta starts to bubble and the noodle holds that shape, maybe 20-30 seconds. Remove from the oil, remove the form that you are using (pastry bag tip), then put the noodle back in until golden in color and crispy - about another 30-45 seconds (estimated times - base it on how hot/cold your oil is)
4. Put formed noodles onto paper towels to drain cool. You can then store them in a plastic bag for who knows how long, if you aren't going to finish them right away.
5. So you can dip the "cones", combine enough chocolate and butter in a thin and tall vessel and melt/mix together. I used a small glass for this. As to amounts, you'll have to base it on how many cones you have. I probably used a good size handful of chips and a tablespoon of butter. Put toffee pieces onto a small plate.
6. Dip the bottom of each cone in the chocolate and let the excess drip away, then roll into the toffee pieces. Place on a cookie sheet with wax paper and refrigerate so the chocolate hardens again.
7. Mix cheeses, sugar, vanilla and hazelnut syrup together. For about fourteen cones, I think that I used about 8 oz. Cream cheese, 4 oz. Mascarpone, and 2 oz. Ricotta. I had a little left over, but not a ton. I probably added about a half-cup of sugar, maybe a teaspoon each of the vanilla and the hazelnut. Just mix stuff and taste it until you like it - this isn't brain surgery. Put mixture into pastry bag and use tip with relatively small opening.
8. Take cones from fridge and pipe cheese mixture into each cone.
9. Put mini chocolate chips on plate and dip cheese at top of cones into chips.
10. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Not to be totally discouraged, I made crab rangoon from this recipe. They turned out really good. The only problem was that some of them cracked & the filling escaped. So, be really careful with the wontons when you're handling them.

Here are some pictures of our efforts. As you can see, there were a lot of rangoons & not nearly enough cannoli...