Mini Cannoli Cream Pastry Cups

Enjoy all of the delicious flavors of a traditional cannoli in an easy-to-make bite-sized treat! Mini Cannoli Cream Cups are perfect for a party or sharing with friends and neighbors! This recipe only requires 7 ingredients & 15 minutes to make, for an easy dessert that everyone is sure to love!

When I’m on the east coast, I always look for an Italian market or bakery that sells homemade cannolis. Fried pastry dough filled with a sweet, creamy ricotta filling, with tasty toppings like chocolate chips and pistachios. What’s not to love about this traditional Italian dessert?

Instead of making full-size cannolis for my annual Christmas/Birthday cocktail party in 2012, I decided to create these Mini Cannoli Cups. A bite-sized treat perfect for sharing! Ever since, I’ve been making these Mini Cannoli Cream Cups every year around the holiday season!

For the mini cannoli shells, I used phyllo shells. These can easily be found online in a shelf-stable container, or in the freezer section of your local grocery store. Since the shells are already baked, that takes half of the work out of making these mini cannoli cups!

Now all that’s left to do is whip up a creamy ricotta filling and pipe it into the phyllo shells! In just 15 minutes, you have a sweet treat that everyone is sure to love!

What You’ll Need

• Ricotta Cheese
• Goat Cheese
• Powdered Sugar
• Ground Cinnamon
• Vanilla Extract
• Phyllo Shells – these make the perfect mini cannoli shells and are easy to find online or in the freezer section of your local grocery store.
• Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

How To Make Mini Cannoli Cups

• Prepare the cannoli filling.
  • Add the ricotta cheese and goat cheese to a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the stand mixer, or an electric hand mixer, to whip the ricotta and goat cheeses together. 
  • Add the powdered sugar, ground cinnamon and vanilla extract. Continue using a mixer to combine the ingredients until they’re smooth and creamy.
• Prepare the cannoli cups.
  • Place the sweet ricotta filling in a large Ziplock bag and cut a small hole in one corner of the bag.
  • Pipe the filling into the phyllo baskets, then sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.

Whit’s Tips & Tricks

• Do NOT use “stand and fill” Ziplock bags for piping the ricotta mixture. The bottom of the bag has a fold that allows it to stand for filling. This will inhibit you from being able to make a clean cut in the corner of the bag to pipe out the cannoli filling.
• The cannoli filling can be made ahead of time. But I do not recommend piping the ricotta filling into the phyllo shells until ready to serve. This prevents the shells from getting soggy in the refrigerator. The filling will last in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, so it can be made well in advance of serving the mini cannoli cups.
• If your phyllo shells are frozen, remove them from the freezer and leave them on the counter for 15 minutes. This will allow them to come to room temperature before filling. I do not heat the shells before filling them, but if you would like to, you can place the shells on a baking sheet and into a 350°F oven for 3-5 minutes.
• To make these mini cannoli cups gluten free, I recommend using a refrigerated gluten free pie dough. Pre-heat oven to 425°F. Roll out the pie dough and use a 3 inch round biscuit cutter to cut the dough into pastry rounds. Lightly press each pastry round into an ungreased mini muffin tin. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow the cups to cool completely, 10-15 minutes, before adding the cannoli filling.
• Want to mix up the toppings? Let’s do it! In addition to mini chocolate chips, try one of these tasty toppings on top of your mini cannoli bites!
  • Chopped Pistachios
  • Sprinkles
  • Mini M&Ms
  • Toasted Coconut
    • Fun idea! You can place all of the toppings in small bowls and set up a mini cannoli bar! This way, people can add their own toppings to the mini cannolis. This is especially fun for kids!

For more bite-sized sweet treats, check out these easy recipes!

1. Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups with Nutella
2. Nutella Cheesecake Bites
3. Red Velvet Cookie Cups
4. Baked Brie Puff Pastry Bites
5. Mini Ice Cream Cakes
6. Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups
7. Berry Cream Fillo Baskets

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