Pastries: I took an Italian bread and pastry course a few years ago from the owner of by Recipe Cottage

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	I took an Italian bread and pastry course a few years ago from the owner of

		a bakery in our area that has articles describing his "Best Cannoli in the Metrowest region" Filling: 2 lb tub of Ricotta cheese 1 cup sugar (I use 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup because I otherwise I find it too sweet) 2 tsp vanilla The secret to making a good cannoli filling is to drain the ricotta. The gunk you get in the stores has too much water in it. Put it in the refrigerator in a colander overnight, or up to a day ahead of using it. You will get as much as a cup of liquid out of it, so prepare accordingly. Now, for those mud pie fanatics, add the sugar to the drained ricotta (no in a bowl silly, not in the colander) and mush it up with your hands. Oh, all right, I suppose you can stir it up with an implement, but that takes all of the fun out of it. Also add the vanilla. If you let this set and disolve the sugar and then stir it up again, voila, Cannoli filling. Here, I assume you have cannoli shell ready. My recipe for these is not handy. Filling the shells is best left to the last moment, since the remaining liquid in the filling will make the shells soggy. You can shove the goo into the shells with a spoon from one or both ends. They can be decorated with chocolate flakes, shaved almonds dusted in cinamon sugar, or for the purist, simply immediately eaten. John the Baker used ground peanuts for 1/8" nugget sized nuts to sprinkle on the filling that sticks out the end of the shell. (He also used green food coloring on them??) Mark