Clara the Queen of cannoli
The Queen of Cannoli: Clara Torrente | Favignana | Sicily
This post is dedicated to Clara of Favignana and cannoli! Cannoli are a typical Sicilian dessert consisting of a fried crunchy rounded pastry shell filled with delicious fluffy lightly sweetened ricotta. Cannoli have been taking the world by storm, even if it is sometimes difficult to find them made in the authentic, traditional way abroad. Where I originate from in Australia, it was rare to find a cannolo. If you found one, often the shell would be lined with chocolate on the inside, to help conserve it for longer while it sat waiting to be purchased, and often filled with all manner of things, rather than the traditional ricotta.
“It looks like cream, but it is ricotta, there’s no cream at all” – Clara
Due to her long tradition of making cannoli by hand, Clara has been featured in many interviews. Last year she was featured on Pasta Grannies. If you don’t know what Pasta Grannies is then you are definitely missing out! Pasta Grannies is the brainchild of Vicky Bennison, she films Italian Nonne and Nonni making their traditional recipes in the hope that these cooking skills will continued on by the younger generations. I warn you though, her channel will make you seriously hungry and in need of a proper Nonna cuddle!
“If the cannolo is smooth, it’s not a real cannolo” – Clara
Clara originates from Favignana, the largest of the three Aegadian Islands off the northwest coast of Sicily, near Trapani and Marsala. Her debut on Pasta Grannies went live on July, 31st, 2020, and she has been a hit! With more than 600,000 people watching the Pasta Grannies YouTube video to see this cannoli expert, who has been making cannoli for over 70 years! The video accumulated over 1,000 comments from across the globe. Many commenters were amazed by how old the recipe must be that Clara is using, as Vicky commentates in the video, “She (Clara) was given this recipe by a family friend who was 90 at the time”.
“They are ready to eat now. Not to keep for later” – Clara
Others had been charmed by Clara with her beautiful blue eyes and vitality and couldn’t believe she still harvests bamboo every February to cut and clean into little rods to be used to create the cannoli shells. As Clara affirms in Italian, “Un po’ di lavoro c’è” – There’s a bit of work. There was debate upon whether chocolate buttons, drops, shavings should go in the ricotta and whether it existed in the original recipe when chocolate was a rarity. One commenter made it clear where they stood on this debate, announcing “If Clara likes chocolate buttons in her cannolis, I like chocolate buttons in my cannolis”.
Another excellent video to help you continue on your Clara and cannoli binge, is the one created by Donpasta and independent videomaker Simona Bua called Clara e I cannoli di Favignana. This one is a bit older than the Pasta Grannies one, being made in 2016, so you may notice that Clara wasn’t using any kitchen mixer to help make the dough at that time.
“When I get myself moving about, I am a twenty year old” – Clara
We see Clara in her summer kitchen, her happy place, as she declares, “When I come here and get everything in place, I feel like a bird in a garden”. While she rolls and kneads the dough she speaks about some of her disappointments, “I would like to pass on what I know how to do, but no one wants to learn”. And some of her angers, “I am, what is it, for 50 years that I vote now? I have seen it all. Bribery, corruption. I am disheartened for the decent people. Madonna, no really, they make my blood boil, honesty doesn’t exist anymore. The word honour is no longer in the dictionary. They managed to delete it”.
When her cannoli are almost finished she shares her joy, “When I’m invited somewhere for lunch I bring my homemade cannoli. To make 100 cannoli, it takes about 3 hours. Even the video cameras had trouble keeping up with me”, she says through giggles, “I was quicker than the camera”.
