Best Cannoli Cream Recipe - Easy to Make! (2024)

FAQs

What is the cream in a cannoli made of? ›

Cannoli filling is made with ricotta cheese, mascarpone cheese, sugar, and lemon zest or orange zest. Additions to the creamy filling include dried fruit or small pieces of dark chocolate (mini chocolate chips). The shell can be garnished with melted chocolate, and the cannoli cream sprinkled with chopped pistachios.

Cannoli is traditionally made with ricotta, but some people prefer mascarpone. It simply depends on your personal preference.

THE BEST RICOTTA CHEESE:

A huge component of this Homemade Cannoli Cream is, of course, the delicious Galbani® Ricotta Cheese. This rich and creamy cheese can be found in your local market's dairy aisle and is the perfect cheese to use for a delicious and rich cannoli cream.

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. It's usually spiked with marsala, a fortified wine that adds distinct flavor and sweetness.

Separate the Shells and Filling: If possible, store the cannoli shells and filling separately. This helps prevent the shells from becoming soggy. Use Airtight Containers: Place the cannoli shells in an airtight container to protect them from moisture and maintain their crispness.

Eggs help bind the ricotta cheese, but if you don't have eggs on hand then it's OK to omit them. Adding egg to ricotta cheese helps to bind the cheese for lasagna so that it doesn't ooze out of the casserole when you cut it. Basically, the egg helps all the cheesy goodness stay intact.

In Sicily, where cannoli are thought to have originated, sheep's milk ricotta is typically favored. Traditional cannoli filling in the United States, however, is most often made with cow's milk ricotta since it's the most readily available product.

Over time recipes have begun using powdered sugar as both the sweetener and to stabilize the watery ricotta, but this, in turn, makes the filling a grainy and overwhelmingly sweet pastry cream. To fix this dilemma, I use a mixture of ricotta, mascarpone, goat cheese with granulated sugar.

1. Drain the ricotta. This is an important step, because without draining the ricotta, you will end up with a runny filling that will make your cannoli shells soggy.

How long does homemade cannoli cream last? ›

I find it indispensable, so I've included it as a necessary ingredient in the recipe, but you can omit it or adjust the amount however suits you. Consider the chocolate chips, zest, and pistachios under the same rule. Keep this cannoli cream snack spread in a lidded container in the fridge for up to seven days.

If the cannoli filling is too thin and runny, take two tablespoonfuls of the filling and place in a glass bowl. Add 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Heat in microwave 45 seconds, stir until smooth texture and add to the filling. Whisk with mixer for 3–4 minutes until the filling begins to thicken and become fluffy.

Worst: Cannoli

The filling is full of more fat and calories, in the form of ricotta cheese and sugar.

The unique processes result in two very different products—mascarpone is a rich, decadent, and super spreadable cheese with a slight tang. Ricotta, on the other hand, has a lumpy, soft texture and mild, milky flavor.

Over time recipes have begun using powdered sugar as both the sweetener and to stabilize the watery ricotta, but this, in turn, makes the filling a grainy and overwhelmingly sweet pastry cream. To fix this dilemma, I use a mixture of ricotta, mascarpone, goat cheese with granulated sugar.

The Flavors Are Different, Too

Italian cannoli, by contrast, are a lot more complex with their flavors, making use of significantly less sugar than the American version, as well as Marsala wine in the dough.