Pumpkin Cannoli

“Thanksgivukkah,” this year’s overlap of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, won’t happen again in our lifetimes. So if you enjoy blending traditions, this is a unique opportunity. One friend of mine plans to make my brisket with cranberries and mushrooms (from Meatballs and Matzah Balls) to serve alongside her turkey. Other families’ dinners will include latkes and kugels nudging in with the stuffing and green bean casserole. But I do enjoy the traditional Thanksgiving foods (plus I love having the crispy potato latkes on their own one night), and so I think perhaps the best place to blend in Hanukkah is at the dessert table.

For a Thanksgivukkah dessert, many people might turn to the traditional Hanukkah dessert of sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts). Not me, though. My exploration of Jewish and Italian foods helped me come to believe that Sicilian cannoli (“pipes”) perfectly represent a Jewish-Italian Hanukkah dessert. They combine a fried pastry shell (the oil part of Hanukkah food traditions) with a luscious creamy ricotta filling (a nod to some Hanukkah traditions of serving cheese).

Adding Thanksgiving makes it even more fun. Those cannoli tubes bear a resemblance to little horns—reminiscent of the food-filled cornucopia so symbolic of the holiday. To make them taste like Thanksgiving, I turned to one of holiday’s most predominant fruits and flavors—pumpkin. It just so happens that pumpkin (particularly a squash called zucca barucca) was particularly favored by Italian Jews in their cooking. So adding it to the cannoli brings everything full circle.

Now, pumpkin is not a traditional cannoli flavor, of course, but as soon as I started experimenting, I found it to be a beautiful foil to the creamy filling. Adding warm fall spices of cinnamon, allspice, and especially some freshly grated nutmeg makes this a stunning fall dessert—I can see it being a regular on my seasonal dessert buffets from now on.

Besides the symbolism, pumpkin cannoli work great for entertaining. You can use store-bought cannoli shells and make the filling up to 6 hours in advance. Simply fill the shells and garnish with a little powdered sugar, freshly grated nutmeg, and some chopped pecans before serving. Mini cannoli fit especially nicely in the big dessert spread you are likely to have on Thanksgiving—so everyone can have a taste or two along with the traditional slices of pies and cakes.

However you celebrate the holiday, I hope you enjoy the foods and how they connect us to Thanksgivings past, to American and Jewish culture, to family traditions, and to beloved people. Wishing you a happy and delicious Thanksgivukkah!

Photo Note: The glassware in these photos was designed by Israeli artist Andreas Meyer and given to me by the Sisterhood of Rodef Sholom Temple in Hampton, Virginia—thank you, ladies!