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Broken Cuisine’s Glass Cannoli

Photo: Ryan Tanaka

BY The Editors

PUBLISHED January 25, 2024

This recipe transposes cannoli into a whole new body. Crackly and glassy yuba shells shatter at the teeth, rather than crumble away like wheat. Instead of descending into a cloying, cheesy filling, we’re met with a kiss of light and milky silken tofu ganache. The resulting smooth and sharp, creamy and crackling contrast is perfect.

George Stiffman, one of the authors of Broken Cuisine, shared this recipe when he joined us on Food with Mark Bittman. "The challenge and highlight of this recipe is the pastry shell. To prevent your cannoli from sticking to their tubes, use nonstick spray (not vegetable oil); don’t roll the yuba sheets too tightly; and remove them from their tubes as soon as they leave the oven. For maximum crispiness, baste generously with simple syrup, bake until almost reddish golden, and pipe in the filling just before enjoying. The more syrup, the longer the required baking time but the glassier the finish. If you will be making the shells ahead of time, store at room temperature for up to a couple of days or wrap in plastic and freeze. The chocolate ganache can be adapted as you like – just be sure to use a low-moisture silken tofu. The shelf-stable cartons work great." — Broken Cuisine: Chinese tofu, Western cooking, and a hope to save our planet 

A note: The only challenge with this recipe is finding the ultra-thin type of yuba. We're only familiar with one brand that sells it (search "thin yuba"), and it's only available at offline Chinese supermarkets. (If you use the standard yuba, the cannoli shells will taste too hard.)

 

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Broken Cuisine’s Glass Cannoli

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Makes 8 pastries 1x

Scale

Ingredients

Chocolate Ganache

  • 4 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
  • 1/2 vanilla bean
  • 12 ounces silken tofu
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Simple Syrup

  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup water

Glass Cannoli Shell

  • 10 9×9 thin yuba sheets
  • 2 1/2 tsp coarse sugar
  • Non-stick cooking spray

Assembly

  • Coconut whipped cream

Necessary Tools

  • 8 cannoli tubes

Instructions

  1. Chop the chocolate, then heat in a double boiler, stirring constantly until just melted. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Transfer the chocolate, vanilla bean seeds, tofu, brown sugar, and salt to a blender. Blend on low until liquefied, then raise the speed to high and blend until smooth. Transfer to a pastry or Ziplock bag and refrigerate until set, ideally overnight.
  2. In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil, then cool to room temperature.
  3. Preheat the oven to 325ºF. On a parchment-paper lined workstation, arrange one sheet of yuba. Baste generously with simple syrup and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon coarse sugar. Baste and sugar another sheet, then stack on top of the first. Repeat three more times, for a stack of five sheets. With a sharp knife, gently trim the stack to 8”x8”, then quarter. Repeat this process with the remaining yuba sheets.
  4. Spray the cannoli tubes with non-stick spray. Arrange the tubes along the edge of the yuba stacks, then gently roll up. (Do not roll too tightly or the yuba will stick.) Transfer to a parchment-paper lined baking sheet, seam-side down. Bake until red-tinged and golden, 20-30 minutes. Using a couple of heat-proof towels, remove the shells while still hot. Cool to room temperature.
  5. To assemble, cut a hole in the tip of the pastry or Ziplock bag and pipe in the cool ganache. Top with whipped cream and serve immediately.

— Recipe from Broken Cuisine: Chinese tofu, Western cooking, and a hope to save our planet

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