Mark Scaramastro took up baking in the last year. It’s given him something to be creative with in his retirement.
Now, he is teaching his youngest grandsons how to bake the family’s new favorite: cannoli.
In Mark and his wife, Jeri Scaramastro’s, kitchen, their grandchildren’s pictures line the walls above the cabinets.
Across the room in their home in Old Forge, a poster reads “Having grandchildren is grand.”
The Scaramastros have six grandchildren, but Jeri said she has seven. She counts Kristen, her eldest grandchild’s girlfriend.
“If I [had] known grandkids were this much fun, I would’ve had them first,” said Jeri.
Jeri dug up an old recipe for cannoli she’d filed away from around 1986-87 for Mark to try. She got it from Carmella Nardone, an old coworker of hers that made the best cannolis she ever had.
There’s a few core ingredients in cannoli-making: flour, butter, egg, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, ricotta and mascarpone cheese. But Mark’s gotten creative with his recipe.
Baker-in-training Sawyer Scaramastro said his grandpa adds ground pistachios to the filling.
“It’s probably because it tastes better,” said Sawyer. “Because a little thing that we do is put pistachios in it to give it more like a stronger flavor. And it dulls down the sweetness of it instead.”
He used a mixer to combine the cheeses with “three cups powdered sugar and more if needed,” as written in the recipe.
Cannoli are the 14-year-old’s favorite dessert. His mom, Aimee Dilger, said while laughing that Sawyer started learning how to make them himself a few weeks ago.
“Every time he made cannolis and brought them [home,] he eats them all,” said Dilger.
Dilger is a photographer and WVIA News Contributor. She’s captured protests, religious ceremonies, any story that can best be told through a camera. But this was the first time she photographed her own family’s story.
I’ve worked with Dilger for a year and have learned so much about connecting to people and their stories from her. It’s so different, intimate, to turn the microphone and interview her about her family’s lives.
With a smile, she showed off Sawyer’s birthday list on her phone. He asked for a set of 20-plus cannoli rollers for his 15th birthday this September, so he can make them himself at home.
Cannoli are deep fried on metal cylinders to keep their shape. Mark got his rollers online. But if you don't have the money, Jeri learned a tip from Nardone to use in a pinch.
“This is Honest-Scott’s-truth — the broomsticks, the wood and cut them up and use them,” said Jeri with her hand raised to swear on her heart.
Now that he’s baked his grandfather’s recipe a few times, Sawyer is teaching his brother, 17-year-old Elijah, the tricks to cannoli rolling.
“This is all you, you’re the baker,” said Elijah.
Sawyer covered the kitchen table in flour to keep the dough from sticking. Under Mark’s guidance, they split the dough into four quarters and rolled each quarter out until it was around an eighth of an inch thick. If the dough’s too thick, Mark said the flavor takes a hit, but if it’s too thin, the shell breaks under pressure from being fried or filled.
The boys cut the rolled-out dough into 3-by-3 inch squares, then folded them around each of the rollers. Mark handled the frying, cooking the dough in a pot of vegetable oil for around a minute or two, or until the shell turned golden brown. He let them dry on a nearby counter until they were cool enough to touch, but warm enough to take off of the cylinder.
Some shells baked better than others. Several cannoli were re-rolled. It’s a deliciously imperfect process; the room was filled with laughter and the lingering smell of vanilla. Dilger teased her sons’ cannoli-making skills.
“It’s just funny to watch Eli’s roll off of them. It’s my favorite thing,” said Dilger in between laughs.
Sawyer videotaped his brother, saving the moment for future teasing between brothers. But like his mom, he captured the memory in the family’s history with a click of a button.
Elijah tried to make a neat shell while trying, and failing, to ignore his brother. Frustrated, he asked his mom what he was doing wrong.
“Nothing…I’m being a jerk. Alright, y’know I love you,” said Dilger.
More than anything, Dilger said she’s proud of her sons for learning to cook for themselves.
“It’s fun. I’m glad that they – they each know how to make one [dish]. Like, Eli makes chicken parmesan. Sawyer knows how to make anything sweet,” said Dilger.
He quickly chimed in.
“I’m broadening my horizons,” said Sawyer. “I know how to make chicken tikka masala.”
Now, the boys help Dilger in the kitchen.
In Mark's kitchen, not all of the cannoli made it to the table, a good few were eaten in between chatter about school, family stories and movies.
"Leave the gun and take the cannoli," Sawyer said, referencing the "Godfather."
Mark Scaramastro’s Cannoli Recipe
Prep Time: Around 30 minutes to make the cream and fill the shells
Cook Time: About 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown to bake the shells
Servings: Makes around 40-60 cannolis
Shell Ingredients
3 cups flour
½ cup melted butter
1 egg yolk, save the egg white for egg wash
1 cup water
Pinch of salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons granulated sugar (optional)
Chocolate syrup (optional, after cannolis are finished)
Filling Ingredients
12 ounces ricotta, drained
15 ounces mascarpone cheese
3 cups powdered sugar and more if needed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)
Mini chocolate chips as needed
1 cup crushed pistachios as needed
Procedure (shell)
1. Mix flour, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl.
2. Add butter, egg yolk and about ¾ cup water to bowl, mix to create dough. If dry, add water 1 tablespoon at a time. If too doughy, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time.
3. When dough is mixed, form a ball. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and let it rest for around 30 minutes to an hour.
4. Unwrap dough, kneed and split into four quarters.
5. Roll each quarter until it is about ⅛ inch thick, cut into 3 by 3 squares.
6. Wrap squares around cannoli rollers and seal dough with egg white.
7. Deep fry in vegetable oil for about 1 to 2 minutes or until shells are golden brown.
Procedure (filling)
1. Mix ricotta, mascarpone in a large bowl with a hand mixer.
2. Add powdered sugar to the mixture in ½ cup bursts.
3. Grind up pistachios in a blender until powdery and add to mixture (optional).
4. Add mini chocolate chips, orange zest, salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract.
Procedure (presentation)
1. Fill the shells with two spoonfuls of the filling.
2. Add chocolate drizzle on top of the cannolis if desired.
