Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I have one single memory from childhood that trumps all others I have. My parents, sisters and I drove into Queens to pick up my grandparents for a long weekend back at our house on Long Island.

On the way back to LI, we randomly took a detour to see my great aunt who we hadn't seen in many years. She worked in an old Italian pastry shop. When we walked into the old shop (which smelled like heaven to an 11 year old Italian-American kid) she lite up when she recognized us - then the procession of hugging and kissing began.

We all admired the displays of cookies,pastries, and cakes. We got a big box of pastries that was tied with the red and white string that hung from the tin cylinder in the ceiling. As we walked out, Aunt Rae grabbed me by the arm and said, "come here". She brought me in the bake of the bakery and before me were racks and racks of freshly made cannoli shells. She grabbed another box and started filling the cannoli creme into the freshly made shells. When she was done filling the box with what appeared to be over a dozen freshly made cannoli's she topped it off with a generous dose of confectionary sugar and walked me out to the car.

They tasted like the most unbelievable cannoli I have ever had. They would have tasted better if I was allowed to eat it in the car however!