It may seem a bit non-traditional to start February off with something other than red and pink goodies.  However, I wanted to start with something that screamed LOVE to me in celebration of this Valentine’s month.

My Valentine, Hubs, is a little different.  He’s quirky, you might say.  One of his little idiosyncrasies is his ability to watch the same movie about a hundred times.  Right now he’s back on The Godfather and the sequel.  I’ve watched Sonny get ambushed, Michael hit the five families, and Fredo not returning from a boat trip so many times I can’t even keep count.

The other day on Food Network Alex G featured cannoli on “Best Thing I Ever Made.”  My heart fluttered because I had the perfect sweet gift for Hubs.  I agree with Food Network that this is an intermediate recipe because there are a few steps.  Still totally doable for anyone who has some cooking experience.  A couple adjustments I made were I started with homemade ricotta by Ina Garten and used my pasta machine to thin the dough.  Both things I would repeat next time.

The filling is easy to put together and surprised me.  I imagined a sweet whipped cream fluff.  Instead, I got a firm and smooth creamy texture spiced with cinnamon, a hint of lemon, and crunch from chocolate chips.  It far exceeded my expectations in the taste department.  When combined with the crunchy outside, it was pretty divine.

My favorite part in the whole thing was sliding the plate across the table under Hubs’ nose.  When he looked up to see if it was for him I said, “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.”*  He laughed.  It is true love.

*You’re only going to get that joke if you’re a Godfather nerd.