Famed bakery shares 2 holiday cookie recipes: Pignoli cookies and cannoli

If you love classic Italian desserts, you’re in for a treat!

Joey and Vinny, third-generation owners of Termini Brothers Bakery, joined "Good Morning America" on Wednesday to share a couple recipes for two of their beloved confections: sweet and soft pine nut cookies -- pignoli -- and of course, the dessert no Italian bakery would be complete without -- cannoli.

Vinny Termini hailed the pine nut laden pignoli "the crème de la crème of cookies," using a Spanish varietal in their recipe that he said are the best you can get. "It's very simple ingredients -- brown sugar, egg whites -- they're soft they're chewy, the amaretto flavor from the almond paste just pairs well with the pine nut."

His brother shared their family's tried and true secret to piping the perfect cannoli at home.

"My grandfather used to stand over us and make sure that the middle is filled," Joey Termini said, holding a bag of the ricotta cheese filling mixture. "You need to go in a nice easy, gentle, slow manner."

Read on for the full recipes.

Pignoli Cookies

Equipment

Pastry Bag and half-inch plain decorating nozzle/tip

Parchment paper

Baking Sheet

Food Processor

Ingredients

8 oz Almond paste

1 cup granulated sugar

2 Egg Whites

Granulated Sugar for dusting

Spanish Pine Nuts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.

2. Add almond past to mixer in small chunks.

3. Pulse or process almond paste and sugar until fine.

4. Add egg whites in batches, processing the mixture well, after each addition.

5. Continuing processing the mixture until it is very smooth.

6. Fill the pastry bag with the almond dough.

7. Pipe about 1 mounds of dough on to cookie sheet, spacing 1” apart.

8. Press pine nuts onto each cookie.

9. Bake until golden brown.

10. Remove from the oven and place the sheet on a cool rack to cool.

11. Store in an airtight container.

Cannoli

Ingredients
Shells
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine
2 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 egg white
1 quart oil for frying, or as needed

Filling
1 (32 ounce) container ricotta cheese, drained
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon citron

Directions

Step 1: To make the shells, mix flour, sugar, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Cut in shortening until crumbly. In a mixer bowl, add Marsala wine, water, vinegar, egg, and egg yolk. Mix at a medium speed until the dough is well incorporated and uniform in color.

Step 2: Continue to mix until the dough is firm. Once the dough is firm wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Step 3:Section the dough into 4 even parts and flatten by hand so the dough can go through the past machine. Roll a ball of dough through gradually thinner settings until you have reached the thinnest setting.

Step 5: Place the sheet of dough on a lightly floured surface. Using a cookie cutter (not serrated), cut out 4 -inch circles.

Step 6: Dust the circles with flour to help you easily remove from that cannoli tubes later. Roll dough around cannoli tubes, sealing the edge with a bit of egg white. ***we use maple wooden dowels but 1 inch tubes are acceptable.

Step 7: Heat oil in a deep fryer or deep skillet to 375 degrees.

Step 8: Fry the shells on the tubes in hot oil, a few at a time, until golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Using a metal pasta strainer to keep the cannoli shells submerged. Remove shells carefully using tongs and place them on a cooling rack.

Step 9: Cool just long enough that you can handle the tubes, then carefully twist the tube to remove the shell.

Step 10: To make the filling, mix ricotta cheese and granulated sugar together in a large bowl until well combined. Fold in chocolate and citron.

Step 11: To fill the cannoli, transfer the mixture into a pastry bag and pipe into shells. Be sure there is cream in the center of the cannoli shell filling the cannoli completely to the other side so the is no hallow part of the shell.

Pastry Filling Tip: When filling the cannoli piping or any dessert, only hold in hand the filling that you can manage to hold in your hand. The remainder can sit in your forearm.