A super-easy no-bake dessert with all the flavor of your favorite Italian pastry, cannoli, and none of the hassle!
There are some restauarant dishes that, as much as I love them, I never even consider making at home. Those dishes often involve deep-frying because I just can’t deal with the thought of a bubbling pot of hot oil. The mess! The smell! The clean-up! No thank you.
Perhaps once a year, I will make sufganiyot for Hanukkah, but that is about all I can handle when it comes to homemade, deep-fried foods. Deep-frying is what restaurants are for, right? French fries, samosas, hush puppies, doughnuts – I’ll take one order of each please.
Among the world’s many delightful deep-fried treats, one of my all-time favorites is Italian cannoli. A good cannoli with a crispy, fried shell that shatters on impact revealing achingly sweet, perfectly smooth ricotta and the crunch of a chocolate chip or a pistachio is one of the all-time great desserts. Remember the iconic line from The Godfather? “Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” It’s all about priorities, people.
Sadly, there are many bad cannoli out there. Soggy, greasy, tasteless – or worse, rancid – shells filled with grainy, tongue-coating cheese. We’ve all been let down by a less-than-stellar cannoli. It’s just one of those things that is hard to get right, I suppose. If I had to guess why I would say that it is because cannoli, like most fried foods, suffer from sitting around. In other words, if the cannoli isn’t fresh, well then, leave it along with the gun.
The way to get fresh cannoli is, of course to make them yourself. But homemade cannoli? I can’t see my way to that. First, you need a special tool to shape the cannoli shells. That’s kind of intense. Then, we are back to the problem of deep-frying the shells. I have no interest in that. Plus you have to pipe the filling into the shells! I’m all for a kitchen project, but not that one, thank you very much.
But what if there were an easier way? A way to get all the joy of a good cannoli without making a special trip to that mom-and-pop bakery in your city’s Little Italy neighborhood or investing in the special tool to shape cannoli shapes? That way is cannoli dip, my friends. I gather cannoli dip has been around for a while, but I just learned about it recently. And all I can think is: yes please.
Cannoli dip is just a big bowl of the best part of cannoli, the filling. And you eat it straight out of the bowl with a spoon by scooping up the dip with something irresistibly crisp and crunchy, like broken waffle cones, your favorite thin and crispy cookie, or even store-bought cannoli shells. What a revelation!
The best part about cannoli dip – besides the smooth creamy texture, sweet taste and crunch of the chocolate chips, of course – is that it is incredibly easy to make. If you are looking for a no-bake dessert idea – because it is hot outside or your oven doesn’t work or you are just feeling lazy – then this recipe is for you. Cannoli dip makes such a fun, an unexpected dessert for a group with almost no fuss.
(If you are feeling squeamish about communal dips is this age of COVID, I hear you. But there is an easy way around that problem: simply give each guest a small individual bowl of the dip and some crunchy dippers.)
Because this recipe has so few ingredients, the quality of the ingredients makes all the difference. Spulrge on the freshest ricotta you can find, preferably hand-dipped. If your ricotta is at all watery, take the time to strain it. This will make a huge difference in the final texture.
In addition to ricotta, I use mascarpone cheese which adds creaminess and a little bit of tanginess. The dip also calls for a shocking amount of powdered sugar, but that is the only way to achieve the right texture, so embrace it. It’s dessert.
Have you ever had cannoli dip? Or any kind of dessert dip? It’s a fun idea, don’t you think?
Ingredients
- 1 lb. fresh ricotta
- 8 oz. mascarpone
- 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 TB orange zest
- Pinch nutmeg
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- For serving: broken waffle cones, pizzele cookies or store-bought cannoli shells
Instructions
- Line a fine-mesh strainer with cheesecloth, muslin or a coffee filter and set it over a deep bowl. Place the ricotta in the lined strainer and allow it to drain for at least 30 minutes, or longer if it is watery.
- Combine the strained ricotta, mascarpone, powdered sugar, vanilla, orange zest, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl OR the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat the mixture with a hand mixer or using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer until whipped and completely smooth.
- Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
- If not serving right away, cover and refrigerate until needed. Cannoli dip will keep for up to two days in the refrigerator.
- Serve with waffle cones, cookies or broken cannoli shells for dipping.
