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Thanks to some Philly grit and neighborly assistance, the 80-year-old machine that threatened Termini's Christmas is back up and rolling. Vincent Termini Jr. was panicking. As the Christmas season, the busiest time of year for his family’s famous South Philadelphia bakery, got underway, a large piece of equipment in their main bakery had seized. It just stopped. This wasn’t just any machine. The “dough breaker” is an 80-year-old piece of specialty equipment straight from Italy that’s a critical component in the process of making cannoli, by-far the most popular item at Termini Bros. during the holidays. That key step in...

In early March, the Eltingville Pastosa introduced Cannoli Ravioli to patrons. The sweet spin on the Italian dessert merged with the store’s house-made ravioli proved an instant hit with Staten Islanders. Danny and Umberto De Rosa were stunned at the new product’s rabid reception. In just a week on the market, the cannoli ravioli sold out as fast as they could produce them. So the brothers increased production on the store’s ravioli machines. A box for a frozen 12-count costs $7.49, treats that customers can fry up at home from their icy state or room temp. They recently started pan-frying...

Judi and I were honored to be asked to judge a cannoli/waffle eating contest at Pier Village on Sunday. It was a picture perfect summer day. The beach was packed. People in bathing suits walking around everywhere. And the line was out the door at Coney Waffle in Long Branch. The owners Joe and Mike revived their mom’s old waffle machine from Coney Island in Brooklyn. They filled two hot dog bun shaped waffles with cannoli cream and WOW! About a dozen brave men and one woman stepped on stage to see who could eat in three minutes. Needless to...

Let's see what Test Kitchen Taylor is cooking up today! A cannoli is a classic Italian sweet treat, but today we're taking it to the next level. Test Kitchen Taylor Made Bacon cannoli shells and filled them with a BLT dip! Do you have a recipe that you want Test Kitchen Taylor, Tamica and LBJ to try? Send it to us at twist@wgno.com! BLT Canolli 10 slices bacon 2 cans diced tomatoes 1/4 cup of green onions, chopped 1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped 1/2 cup shredded Colby Jack Cheese 1/3 cup of cream cheese 1/4 cup of mayonnaise 1/4...

On a trip to Sicily, birthplace of the Italian sweet, a recent cannoli-convert learns what separates the mediocre from the mouth-watering, and where to find the bestSOMEWHERE ON the coastal road between the Sicilian towns of Marzamemi and Siracusa, from behind the wheel, our guide pointed out the giant reeds growing above the Ionian sea. “Those are the canna they used to make the cannoli with,” Salvatore Coppola explained. From the back seat of the car, in unison, my mother and I made the same face, the one where we purse our lips together while curling the upper halves....

First it was the cronut -- part croissant, part doughnut -- that had New Yorkers waiting around the block. Then the Chocolate Chip Cookie Shot Glass had sweet tooths calling. The new baking rage mashup? A donnoli. Imagine the sweet ricotta filling you'd find inside in a cannoli, piped into a fried doughnut and covered in powdered sugar. That sentence just sounds delicious. Smithsonian Magazine named it one of five pastries to eclipse the cronut . Thrillist.com reported April 30 that Philadelphia, Pa., bakers Frangelli's Bakery and Di Bruno Brothers fuel the donnoli trend. But it turns out there's no...

There's been an ongoing movement to combine desserts. And now, there's a new one for you. You may remember the wildly popular cronut, which is a combination of a croissant and donut. Now a new creation is flying off the shelves of a New Jersey supermarket.

Sicilian amateur scientists have launched a model cannolo, a cream-stuffed pastry roll symbolic of the Italian island, into the stratosphere, capturing bizarre images of the dessert flying far above the earth. The 'Sicilian Space Program', which cost a rough total of 350 euros, had symbolic importance as well as being a scientific feat, the three natives of the island town of Enna behind it told Reuters. "Sicily has always been a place of negative connotations, mafia and unemployment. We wanted to lift up Sicily in our own way," said filmmaker Fabio Leone, 34, who recorded the project with Antonella Barbera,...

Customers line up to buy cannoli at Romolo’s Cannoli & Spumoni Factory on 37th Avenue in San Mateo Wednesday. The store is run by Mike and Joe Cappello, who have taken over the family business. Brothers Mike and Joe Cappello love their jobs. They get to eat Italian desserts all day, whenever they want, as they are now master spumoni and cannoli makers. They learned their craft from their grandparents, Romolo and Angela, and have since taken over the family business on 37th Avenue in San Mateo. Romolo’s Cannoli & Spumoni Factory is celebrating its 44th year and the brothers...

A Charlotte County man is accused of injuring his girlfriend during a domestic dispute over cannolis, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. According to reports, Scott DeCesare got into an argument with his girlfriend because she ate all of the cannolis. The girlfriend told deputies he was so angry he flipped over a coffee table in the living room, causing damage to it. She said she threw his dinner in the trash because she was mad at him. He then allegedly threw the food at her, hitting her in the shoulder and the face, reports said. DeCesare allegedly then...

Mob rap in bagel boom   Feds tie S.I. attack in '01 to gangland rivals  BY ERNIE NASPRETTO and JOHN MARZULLI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS  My Deli in Staten Island was the target of a firebomb attack in 2001. Only in New York would a Mafia associate nicknamed The Irishman allegedly provide a bomb used to destroy a Pakistani immigrant's deli that was competing with a bagel store protected by the mob. The feds yesterday charged reputed Gambino crime associate Edward Fisher with orchestrating the December 2001 arson attack on My Deli and Grocery in Staten Island. Police had...

WASHINGTON – "Call me back on November 3rd," Willis Anthony had said. I had sincerely not intended to do so. But then I did. Because he had been right. He and his wife had both been right, when in that living room in St. Peters, Minnesota, buried between the grain silos that stood like towers in the vast emptiness of the northern lands, in that little house as polished as a mirror and that atmosphere of neat simplicity, they explained their beliefs, with a bit of embarrassment. They had been right when, in response to my incredulity in the face...