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This Cannoli Tart has all the great flavors of a cannoli wrapped into one simple tart! With a touch of cinnamon and mini chocolate chips, it’s got all the things I love most about cannolis.
Table of Contents
Cannoli Tart
How to Make a Cannoli Tart
Get the Recipe
Cannoli Tart
So I spent most of my baking time this past week on this one darn recipe for the cookbook. It just would not cooperate. It wasn’t bad, per se, but it also wasn’t just right. And truly, I’m quite picky. Especially when it comes to a book that’s going to be published. Talk about scary.
So I had several versions of said recipe stacked in several cupcake carriers around the kitchen. Saturday morning I came down early to keep working on it. Several hours later when the hubs came down, he revealed that he’d had trouble sleeping the night before and when he came downstairs to watch tv, he got into the cupcakes.
Of course my brain immediately went into panic mode – for about 5 seconds. Did he eat ones I needed for comparison purposes?! Oh no!
But then he followed up with, “But I ate ones from different tiers so they weren’t all the same batch.”
He could see my relief – and laughter – and claimed that he was proud of himself because he now knows how to properly steal cupcakes from me. Ha! Thief!
It was also his birthday, so I couldn’t be too mad. 🙂
This cannoli tart is absolutely worthy of some major thievery.
If you’ve hung around this blog for a while, you’ve probably realized that I love cannoli desserts. I don’t always love getting cannolis from bakeries. I find they tend be to super sweet, which is weird to hear me say, but it’s true. But I love making my own cannoli-inspired desserts. A cannoli poke cake, cannoli icebox cake and now a tart. And I’m sure there’s more to come. I can make them just sweet enough with just the right amount of cinnamon. Mmm mm mm!
And this particular dessert is nice because it’s so easy. It’s almost completely no bake, but I did actually bake the crust. I wanted to be sure it held together a little better when sliced.
How to Make a Cannoli Tart
The filling is made first by making homemade whipped cream. It lightens up the tart filling nicely.
The next step is to combine the mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. I love using mascarpone cheese. It’s so darn yummy. Some cannolis actually use a combination of mascarpone and ricotta, but because ricotta can be a little finicky with the amount of water I stuck to mascarpone. Feel free to replace some of it with ricotta if you prefer.
Carefully fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. You want to use a folding motion so that you don’t deflate the whipped cream.
Spread the filling into the tart, top with some mini chocolate chips and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Refrigerate it until firm and devour! Such an easy to way to enjoy a wonderful cannoli dessert! Yum!!
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Author:Lindsay
Prep Time:10 minutes
Cook Time:7 minutes
Total Time:17 minutes
Category:Dessert
Method:Oven
Cuisine:American
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Description
This Cannoli Tart has all the great flavors of a cannoli wrapped into one simple tart! With a touch of cinnamon and mini chocolate chips, it’s got all the things I love most about cannolis.
Ingredients
CRUST
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp butter, melted
CANNOLI FILLING
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar, divided
12 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
mini chocolate chips, for topping
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a 9 inch tart pan. 2. Combine ingredients for crust and press into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. 3. Bake crust for 7 minutes, then remove from oven and allow to cool completely. 4. To make the whipped cream, whip heavy whipping cream on high speed for 2-3 minutes. Cream will initially bubble a little bit, then start to thicken. 5. As the cream starts to thicken, add 1/4 cup of powdered sugar. 6. Whip on high until stiff peaks form, for a total whipping time of about 5-7 minutes. 7. Set whipped cream aside and combine mascarpone cheese, remaining powdered sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Mix on slow speed until combined. Do not over mix. 8. Carefully fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. 9. Spread filling into the tart crust and refrigerate until firm, 3-4 hours.
This creative cannoli recipe uses rolled up Pizzelle cookies (the flat, waffle-like cookies that are cooked in a press similar to a waffle iron) as a crispy shell for the cannoli. As long as you have a pizzelle iron, these pizzelle shells are much easier to make and handle than traditional cannoli shells.
Cannoli (singular cannolo) literally translates from Italian to “l*ttle tubes.” Cannoli are hand-formed, crispy little pastry tubes filled with a decadent ricotta filling. Marsala wine added to the pastry dough creates the perfect texture, and when fried, you end up with golden, flaky, slightly sweet cannoli shells.
Method. To make the cannoli shells, sift the flour into a bowl, then stir in the sugar, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and a pinch of sea salt. Make a well in the centre and add the lemon zest, marsala and egg yolk (set aside the egg white to use later). Melt and add the butter, then mix until thoroughly combined.
What Is a Cannoli and What Is It Made Of? A cannoli is a tube-shaped Italian dessert that consists of fried pastry dough stuffed with a sweet, creamy cheese filling. The crispy pastry shell is made with the usual suspects: flour, sugar, whole eggs, and butter.
Once opened or after the first bite, it should be eaten as quickly as possible, ideally within a day, to avoid the shell getting soggy. Homemade cannoli have a similar expiration timeline, with the shell lasting for about a week and the filling for up to 2 days.
You need to plan when to indulge. Choose healthier options and control your portion sizes. Cannoli filling might be a delightful option for a low-sugar dessert, especially for individuals looking to satisfy their cravings without compromising their sugar intake.
Chief among them is the type of milk used for each. The Italian version makes use of sheep's milk, while Italian-American cannoli employs cow's milk (leading to significant distinctions in taste and consistency).
If you've ever seen the classic mob movie “The Godfather”, you've undoubtedly heard the famous line “Leave the gun, take the cannoli”. And while the movie is known for its dramatic scenes and quotable dialogue, the real star of that particular line is the delicious Italian pastry known as cannoli.
Yes, cannolis need to be refrigerated. Don't leave them at room temperature for more than two to three hours at a time. Store them in an airtight container lined with paper towels in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Holy Cannoli sells three different flavors of cannoli: Vanilla, Chocolate, and a non-traditional, apple pie flavor (a must-try!). For those of you who have never had a cannoli, it is an Italian pastry comprised of a crispy outer shell filled with a sweet, ricotta-based filling.
That's another thing about the "cannoli" line. It's culturally specific. It's not, "leave the gun, take the dessert." Cannoli — crusty tubular pastries with sweet ricotta filling — happened to be director Francis Ford Coppola's favorite when he was a kid. That's why he left the line in.
Puff Pastry Cannoli – flaky puff pastry shells filled with a sweet ricotta filling and topped with chocolate chips. Super simple to make and they taste amazing!! Puff pastry shells, heavy cream, mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, ricotta cheese, and vanilla extract.
Italian cream horns are made with a light and fluffy puff pastry. Alternately, cannoli shells are hard and brittle, breaking apart with each bite. The filling of the cream horn also tends to be light and fluffy as opposed to the rich, creamy filling found in most cannolis.
The cannolo consists of three parts: the so-called scorza (“crust”or “peel”) which is shaped like a bow tie, the sheep ricotta cream as filling and the topping which is nowadays very creative, but traditionally you should only be a slice of candied orange or a cherry.
Hobby: Gunsmithing, Embroidery, Parkour, Kitesurfing, Rock climbing, Sand art, Beekeeping
Introduction: My name is Roderick King, I am a cute, splendid, excited, perfect, gentle, funny, vivacious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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