This Legendary Pastry Shop's Cannoli Are Almost Comically Huge

Circo's Pastry Shop is arguably one of the best bakeries in New York City. It's been a cornerstone of the Bushwick food scene since 1945, servicing Brooklyn from the shop and fans nationwide via online shipping. The menu features a range of traditional cookies and biscotti, over-the-top custom cakes, and pastries. Despite other Italian heavy hitters like zeppole and sfogliatelle, one treat steals the show: the giant cannoli.

Sicilian-born owner Antonino "Nino" Pierdipino invented the item in 1970 in an effort to make a family-sized cannolo. Locals caught wind and flocked to the store to order, just as they do now. Folks outside NYC can order them for delivery, too. Pierdipino hand-shapes the shells and fries them to golden perfection using a custom-made steel tube. He then places 30 small cannoli inside the shell, which is then filled with more of Circo's signature ricotta cream (a sweetened filling that some chefs consider the one thing you need to make authentic Italian cannoli) as well as chocolate chips and cherries.

The filling is so versatile that Circo's features it in numerous items. The Holy Cannoli Donut is teeming with ricotta filling and topped with crumbled cannoli shells and chocolate chips, while the Rainbow Cannoli Pastry pairs the iconic colored cookies with cannoli cream and raspberry jam. The sfingi pair the cream with fried dough and candied orange, and the cassatella is a cream-filled dough that Circo's has been selling since the beginning.

Many consider Circo's gargantuan cannolo an over-the-top dessert that everyone should eat at least once. Part of the allure is the old-school equipment and technique used to make them, like the 100-year-old roller that processes the dough, the decades-old baking sheets on which the shells are placed, and the 1940s oven that bakes them. The giant cannoli, which reportedly weigh 4 to 5 pounds each, are a holiday tradition for many families, made to order and sold for $100 apiece.

Circo's is far from a hidden gem now. The shop's reputation stretches beyond Brooklyn and has attracted a number of celebrities, like Ray Romano and Rudy Giuliani. Even Ronald Reagan was a fan — according to the owner, someone discreetly ordered a large number of cannoli for a party, then later sent the shop a photo of President Reagan eating one. Alec Baldwin swears by the shop's cookies as well, so if you go for the cannoli, you might as well taste a variety.

The staff consider the standard cannoli famous on their own, but the giant cannoli were practically designed to go viral. "Saw one today in the shop and it was one of the most beautiful things I ever laid eyes on," one Instagram user commented. "Ordered this for my wife's [birthday]. Absolutely delicious and beautiful," a customer wrote on a separate Instagram post. "Forget the gimmick, forget that it's gigantic — this is delicious," TikTok reviewer Sam Goldberg declared.