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Thursday, March 16, 2017

Cannoli Bites for Solemnity of St. Joseph


This recipe is a different take on a classic Italian feast day treat; simpler than the traditional cannoli but with similar flavors.  Making cannoli is a big process and it to great way to get the flavor of cannoli without the work. Use a pre-made pie crust, flavor it a little, cut into small circles and make mini cups to fill with the cream.

Cannoli Bites

Ingredients:
Cannoli cups:
1 refrigerated pie crust
3 tablespoons coarse natural sugar (Turbinado)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
dry white wine

Cannoli Filling:
16 oz whole milk Ricotta cheese, strained
4 oz Mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions:
For the cannoli cups - Heat oven to 400°F.  Thaw pie crust. Unroll the crust onto a lightly floured surface. Brush lightly with wine and sprinkle the top of each crust with the sugar and spice mixture. Lightly roll over it with a rolling pin so that sugar and spices are pressed into the dough.



With a 2 – 2 ½ inch round biscuit cutter or cookie cutter, cut out circles and lightly press them inside a greased mini muffin cup to create a pastry cup.  Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Cool.


For Filling  - In a mixing bowl, blend together Ricotta and Mascarpone cheese to mix well and remove lumps. Add sugars and vanilla and mix in. Cover and chill 30 minutes.

After mini shells/cups are cool, remove cannoli filling from refrigerator, transfer to a piping bag fitted with a tip (or you can use a large resealable bag and cut the tip off one end). Pipe filling into cups and sprinkle with chocolate chips and dust with powdered sugar. 


For best results serve within 2 hours. Store in refrigerator.  Makes approximately 20 cannoli bits.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, Pray for us!


4 comments:

  1. What kind of crust? I want to make it from scratch. Thanks! I love this idea of cups

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  2. Just a regular pie crust. Whatever recipe you would make a general pie crust.

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  3. This is a common pie crust recipe. One my mom always did http://www.crisco.com/recipes/classic-crisco-pie-crust-124

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  4. And for those that prefer a more whole food version with only butter this is one I have been using and live. http://www.eatingfromthegroundup.com/2013/11/you-can-if-you-want-to-a-pie-crust-tutorial/

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