Friday, October 2, 2009

Cannoli Bites

I was craving cannolis for a few days now and spotted these mini fillo cups in my pantry and had wondered if they would do in place of the traditional cannoli shell. They do. I love a good vanilla ricotta cannoli from Mike's Pastry in the North End but sometimes I like my canollis jazzed up with a smidgen of orange, cinnamon, and chocolate. I whipped up some filling and filled these mini cups then proceeded to eat five all by myself. Does that make me bad? So when you need to impress a crowd, make these little bites then lead everyone to believe that you spent all day making them.

Cannoli Bites
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 t vanilla extract
4 T. powdered sugar
1 T. heavy cream
1/8 t. cinnamon
1 t. fresh orange zest
2 T. mini chocolate chips
30 mini fillo cups (2 boxes)

In a small food processor or blender, blend the first 5 ingredients until smooth. Remove to a bowl and fold in orange zest and chips. Using a baby spoon, spoon filling evenly into 30 fillo cups. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, cocoa, or both. Chopped pistachios may be nice too. Serve immediately. Makes 30 pieces.

Note- Only put the cream filling into the cups just before serving so the cups do not get soggy. Thank you.

Another Mini Fillo Recipe: Mini Baked Brie Cups

Have a grand weekend!

Robin Sue

30 comments:

Rachael said...

Great idea! I am a cannoli fiend...when I go to New York I have to hit Little Italy for my fix. These look tasty and easy :-)

EAT! said...

My Middle One thanks you in advance for this recipe.

Sabrina said...

Oh my gosh those look awesome. Thanks, I will be trying these soon.

to2sassy said...

That is a totally awesome idea!

oneordinaryday said...

Holy heck, Robin Sue. Will you be my best friend?

That Girl said...

Not only is this a great way to use up leftover ricotta cheese, I love that they're bite size since I can't handle more than a bite or two of a canolli!

unconfidentialcook said...

What a great idea!!! And, no, you're not bad--I think you showed restraint!

Fallon said...

CANNOLI!! I love these. This is a great bite size dessert for cocktail parties! Except like you, I'd eat more than one ;)

Thanks for your comment! I'm trying to keep busy but there always that down time that happens. Work is finally picking up so that what usually helps me out!

Karen said...

You only ate 5?? I would have eaten all 30! LOL They look so cute and yummy... perfect for a party.

Bryan V. said...

Looks very delicious! haha! i have eat 40 then..hahha.

Joan Nova said...

Genius...love it and will definitely do it! It's great for a dessert table. Unlike you, I'm all about NOT baking so these prepared cups are perfect for my kitchen.

Kelly said...

Wow, these look good, and the perfect party dessert. Thanks for a great idea/recipe.

Grace said...

maaaaaah-velous! leave the gun, take the cannoli bites, right? :)

Hillary said...

Oh man, I love these! Cannoli always seems hard to share but these bites are perfect for individual servings!

Robin Sue said...

Grace- HA ha ha ha !!

Ms Whit said...

Your Mini Baked Brie Cups look good enough to eat right off the computer screen. I will be making these soon. I always enjoy your recipes. Thanks and have a great day!!!

Penny said...

Perfect timing Robin Sue! I am hosting a Meet and Greet for some local political candidates and this will be perfect to serve. Thanks.

Ingrid said...

Love, love, love cannoli (I actually made a cannoli ice cream this summer! Yes, Yum!)but more often than not could careless about the shell so this is right up my alley. Thanks for sharing!

Have a wonderful weekend!
~ingrid

noble pig said...

You have done it again Mrs.! I am so making these!

Mimi said...

I Love cannolis, but making the shells can be an all day adventure. This is a fabulous alternative.
Mimi

Ciao Chow Linda said...

I too, am a big lover of cannoli - had one yesterday in fact. This is a great idea for a quick fix.

Sophie said...

I love easy yet so tasty food as this!!

You know by now that I love fresh ricotta so I will love this!

Anonymous said...

Big Red Kitchen!! I just started my own blog, word-word-words.blogspot.com, but i've been following yours closely for quite some time. I love the recipes you post, they are all so homey and fun. I've made the sausage bread, fish patties, the cake balls you posted from Bakerella, and the lemonade pie which was amazing! My bodega didn't have full size pie crusts so i ended up making a ton of small ones which was really fun. I post some of my own original recipes on my blog, and a bunch of other stuff, but i guess that's not really important.

Anyway, I love your blog, I can't wait t try more of your recipes.

Robin Sue said...

Anon- thanks for trying all those recipes- WOW!

Peter M said...

A briliant idea! I love cannoli and these little bites are guilt-free (unless I eat 6"!

HoneyB said...

These are perfect! I must BM this to make sometime for my son (who loves canoli!)

Tammy said...

Another one bookmarked! You are killing me with all these delicious recipes!
These look like great party fare- easy to prepare in large amounts.

alanna rose said...

The Service League ladies will love this, I'm going to be the star of the Christmas Tea :)

I'm thinking you could brush the cups with chocolate before filling them, to keep them crisp if you need to make them a bit ahead (like a few hours).

Avanika [YumsiliciousBakes] said...

Wow! So easy, and yet so yummy!

Miranda said...

This is amazing. I can't wait to make these. My fam LOVES cannolies.

Thank you.

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