Cannoli Cream Filling

4 cups half & half

1 cup sugar

5 rounded tablespoons cornstarch

2 sticks of cinnamon (broken in half to make four pieces)

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon almond extract

Hershey Almond Candy Bar, grated

walnuts, finely chopped

2 boxes cannoli shells (6 each)

Cook half and half, sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon sticks until thick.  Remove from heat.  Stir in egg yolks and extract.  Remove cinnamon sticks.  When cream is COLD, add grated almond bar.  (Don't stir in the Hershey bar if the cream is even warm – the chocolate will melt – you do not want it melted!)  Fill shells with cream and dip ends into chopped nuts.

Pete said:

Oh, my.  Who knew you could actually MAKE cannoli?  Of course, someone has to, but this sounds like it could actually be done!

Must the filling be piped into the shell?  Could a small spoon maybe be used?  Or maybe this is the perfect time to break out the plastic bag with the corner snipped off…

This is really good cannoli filling.  You can use a plastic bag with a tiny corner snipped off – or pipe it in.  I fear a small spoon might end up crushing the shell.