CANNOLI DIP

Cannoli Dip is our new favorite dipping dessert; think: the inside of a cannoli, but in dippable form! Grab your favorite cookies, crackers, or broken-up waffle cones, and dig in!

Love dessert dips? Us too! Be sure to try this brownie-batter flavored Dessert Cheese Ball or three-ingredient Fruit Dip next.

Cannoli Dip Recipe

When we went to Italy a few years ago, “trying gelato in every single flavor” was at the top dessert bucket list. Next on that list? Eating all the cannoli!

What Are Cannoli?

If you aren’t familiar, cannoli are famous Italian pastries. They start with tube-shaped fried pastry dough and then pipe a sweet and creamy filling into the shell. The filling contains ricotta cheese among other ingredients. Once filled, the ends of the cannolis are dipped in miniature chocolate chips, chopped pistachios, etc. and the pastries are lightly dusted with powdered sugar.

The cannoli in Italy did not disappoint! And since coming home, I’ve made them a few times for my family. While they’re fun to make, the shells are time intensive to prepare and can be a bit particular. Not the easiest dessert to whip together when the intense cravings hit! So instead, I whip up a similar filling, make it into a dippable consistency, and enjoy it with waffle cones or cookies. And so, we have Cannoli Dip — all the flavors and a fraction of the work!

And just to be clear — this Italian Cannoli Dip Recipe isn’t an authentic Italian dessert, but certainly inspired by their famous pastries.

QUICK TIP

If you don’t speak fluent Italian, here’s a mini-lesson. Cannoli is actually the plural of the Sicilian word cannolo, which translates to ‘little tube.’ Why do we never refer to a single cannolo? Well, that one is obvious: because you can never eat just one!

What Is Cannoli Dip Made Of?

This dip contains ingredients similar to what you’d find in the filling of cannoli, so the texture and flavors are pretty on point. Here’s what we’ve got:

Ricotta cheese. Pick a full-fat high-quality ricotta cheese — this way you won’t need to strain off too much excess liquid. Better ricotta provides a richer flavor in this dip. While ricotta can have a slightly gritty texture, Cannoli Dip without ricotta would be too sweet and not taste similar to actual cannoli–which is what we’re going for in this recipe!
Mascarpone cheese. If you aren’t familiar, mascarpone cheese, it’s similar to cream cheese but uses a base of whole cream rather than milk (so you know this is going to be good!). It can be found usually in one of three places in the grocery store: the deli counter, in the dairy section (near the cream cheese or sour cream), or in the specialty foods section (near fancier cheeses like brie). See “quick tip” box below.
Powdered sugar. This sugar melds nicely with the cheeses instead of becoming grainy like granulated or brown sugar.
Vanilla extract. This adds a nice flavor complexity.
Fine sea salt. Salt intensifies flavors and balances all the ingredients nicely.
Miniature Chocolate Chips. These mini chips add such a great flavor to the dip and a nice texture.

QUICK TIP

Cannoli dip with mascarpone cheese is divine! We love mascarpone cheese so much that it’s made its way into a myriad of recipes on the site, including this Honey and Banana Sandwich, Baked Ziti, and my favorite Pumpkin Pie Recipe. In a pinch, you can make Cannoli Dip with cream cheese (using full-fat, brick-style), but I highly recommend mascarpone if you can get it. Yes, Mascarpone Madness is a real thing!

VARIATIONS

Instead of adding miniature chocolate chips, try adding in coarsely chopped pistachios! You can also flavor this dip exactly how your favorite cannoli taste — add in some orange zest or lemon zest or orange/lemon extracts or season with cinnamon and/or a touch of allspice.

What To Dip In Cannoli Dip

Waffle cookies: While the flavors aren’t quite the same, broken waffle cones, pizzelle waffle cookies, or waffle butter cookies (from Trader Joe’s) are amazing with this dip!
Cookies: We also love crunchy chocolate chip cookies or vanilla wafers in this dip.
Other great ideas: Try unfilled packaged cannoli shells, pretzels, graham crackers, animal crackers, vanilla sandwich cookies.

How To Make Cannoli Dip

I’ve never seen Cannoli Dip in stores–all the more reason to make it yourself! The full recipe is below, but here are some tips:

Use full-fat dairy products. In order for this dip to whip into a nice, creamy consistency, it needs whole milk ricotta and whole mascarpone cheese (we need the fat from the whole milk for whipping). Low-fat products won’t yield consistent results.
Use a stand mixer or electric hand mixer. Unfortunately, this dip doesn’t thicken without one or the other. We need high-speed whipping capabilities to get the right consistency.
Presentation tip: Add the dip to a bowl. Place the bowl on a large plate or platter and fan out the dippers surrounding the bowl. Sprinkle a few extra miniature chocolate chips on top of the dip. Give everything a light sprinkle of powdered sugar (use a fine-mesh sieve to lightly sprinkle the sugar on top).

STORAGE

Cannoli Dip Storage

This dip will last nicely in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container. Note that as it sits in the fridge, it does begin to collect a bit of liquid after the first day. This isn’t a big deal; drain it off and give it a good stir before serving again!

Because of the dairy in this dip, it isn’t a great candidate for freezing and thawing as it will likely separate and become overly grainy.

More Tasty Dessert Recipes:

Chocolate Dip for Fruit with Nutella
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie with an Oreo cookie crust
Lemon Curd Cookies with a sweet glaze
Cashew Ice Cream only three ingredients, no ice cream maker needed!
Nutella Crepes with strawberries and whipped cream

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