Creamy Cannoli (base)
WF Cannoli Shell 2%
FA Zeppola 1.5%
FA Cookie 0.5%
SSA Cottage Cheese 1.2% ---> see substitute below
SSA Clotted Cream 0.7%
INW Custard 0.8%
Steep time = 4 weeks / bakery, creams and custard dictate the time. As always, YMMV.
I've been working on this recipe for several months. It's gone through many iterations using several different flavors and a bunch of tweaking. I took my time with this profile.
While I have named it as a "base" this mix on its own is Mighty Tasty as a bakery vape. So much so, that I would put this mix up against any commercial bakery mix anywhere, anytime. Yes, it is that good!!!
WF Cannoli Shell is a really good flavor but in order to taste like a real cannoli shell it needs help. FA Zeppola is a fried sweet dough with hints of powdered sugar. It helped a lot to build up the overall cannoli flavor. FA Cookie at 0.5% adds to the realism and also adds some crunchiness to the cannoli shell.
In real life a cannoli is made with ricotta cheese. In DIY no one makes a ricotta flavor (yet). IRL the 1:1 substitute for ricotta cheese is cottage cheese. SSA Cottage Cheese is very pleasing in this mix. As of today, SSA Cottage Cheese is only available via Nom Nomz (see next paragraph).
I also made a variant of this recipe using 1.2% SSA Mascarpone Cream - it was equally as tasty as the cottage cheese. FWIW, there are cannoli recipes IRL that use mascarpone.
The SSA Mascarpone is a 1:1 substitute. It only changes the overall flavor slightly.
SSA Clotted Cream is a nice thick cream and here it's being used to build up the cottage cheese. I tried other creams, none "hit the note" like clotted cream.
IMO, it is currently one of the top three creams we have in DIY.
INW Custard at 0.8% is there to add a very light egg note as well as its other tasty custard notes. It adds complexity to the overall cannoli profile.
FA Custard Premium at 0.5% is a perfect substitute, I made a variation of this mix using it.
This mix has a very natural, and pleasing, sweetness to it. I did one variation using 1 drop of FLV Sweetness in 10ml. It was good, but for my tastes it's not needed in this mix. If using FLV Sweetness it's 1 drop per 10ml. If another sweetener is used I would start at only 0.25%. You do not want a sweetener turning the mix into something that's yuck, gross and muddles the overall profile.
And I do apologize for tooting my own horn above, I honestly do, but this mix just totally rocks. Like I said at the get-go, this mix has been in development for months. I was determined to go slow and easy with it. In the early stages I nearly gave-up, my persistence won out.
Any single fruit or combinations of fruits will work with this mix. Start low with the percentages, you don't want a fruit overtaking the main profile. I've tried it with mango/pineapple and also with one of my orange bases.
Adding a chocolate will give you a chocolate tease at 1% or a full blown chocolate cannoli at 2% (depending on which chocolate flavor is used). A nut flavor, at 0.5% - 0.8%, depending on the nut flavor, will add a light nuttiness (LOL) to the cannoli. I did a variation using 0.8% FA Walnut (it was tasty).
An ice cream flavor at 1% - 1.5% could also be added, or subbed for the cottage cheese. IRL there are ice cream filled cannoli's.
So, the length of "cannoli" isn't the problem. Cannoli is allowed text, it's not too short, not numeric and it sure ain't floating. Oh well.
