Mini Cannoli Cups
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Make these show-stopping mini cannoli cups for your next dessert to serve to your family or when hosting a get-together. They’re made with a flaky pie crust filled with a ricotta cheese vanilla filling and topped with mini chocolate chips and a dusting of powdered sugar.
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A bite-size dessert that gives you all the flavors of a traditional cannoli but with minimal effort needed to be made. Also, learn how to make cannoli filling that is perfect for this dessert or a classic cannoli. Be sure to check out my cannoli dip as well for another ricotta cheese dessert option.
What Are Mini Cannoli Cups
This is a twist to a cannoli, so you have a pastry shell piped with the traditional cannoli ricotta filling. This sweetened cheese filling is so creamy, and then the mini chocolate chips add a nice crunch.
The single-serve shells melt in your mouth and make a tremendous single-serve dessert for parties, family gatherings, cookouts, wedding showers, etc. Gorgeous presentation value, easy prep, and crowd-pleasing flavors.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for all ingredients and quantities.
- Pie Crust: You can use store-bought pie crusts or a homemade pie crust recipe.
- Turbinado Sugar: I love using this as the sugar; it helps sweeten the crust a bit
- Ricotta Cheese: You will want to reach for a whole ricotta cheese in a fine mess drainer and allow the excess liquid to drip off it overnight.
- Powdered Sugar: Helps thicken the filling and create a creamy texture. If you find it has clumps, sift it first.
- Orange Zest: I also used some fresh orange zest to add that citrus punch to the filling.
Substitutions and Variations
- Toppings: The toppings are endless. You can top it with fresh fruit, citrus zest, pistachios, mixed nuts, warm spices, or any other topping you like.
- Chocolate Cannoli Cups: Consider melting 1/4 cup of melted chocolate and slowly incorporating it with the ricotta filling. This will add a chocolate twist to the filling for these dessert cups. Dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, or even white chocolate works.
- Seasonal: Instead of cinnamon on the shell, you can use pumpkin, apple pie spice, etc. This is a great way to add a fall flavor twist to the pie crust.
- Garnish: Top with a drizzle of caramel sauce, hot fudge, whipped cream, a maraschino cherry, sprinkles or edible gold flakes, etc. Feel free to decorate your cannoli in any way you want.
NOTE: This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations
How to Make Mini Cannoli Cups
Preheat the oven and spray the muffin pan’s bottom side with cooking spray.
Step 1: the pie crust, and then work on a floured surface to help prevent the pie crust from sticking. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the crust, and rub it in massaging into the pie crust.
Step 2: Then, use a cookie cutter to make round shapes. Place the cutouts on the bottom of the muffin tin and bake as directed.
Step 3: You will use a mixing bowl, a hand mixer, or a stand mixer for the filling. Whip up the cheese, sugars, orange zest and vanilla. Mix to combine thoroughly.
Step 4: When the cups are cooled, pipe or spoon some filling into each pie crust.Top with a few mini chocolate chips and extra powdered sugar. Then, store it in a container in the fridge until ready to serve.
Tips for Making Mini Cannoli Cups
- Drain the ricotta overnight in a fine mesh strainer. Adding a bowl for weight will help get as much liquid out as possible for a thick cannoli filling.
- Fresh pie crust that is not overly dry is needed. You don’t want it to be dry and fall apart, as you will cut and shape the crust to be baked in the oven.
- Make sure the shells are thoroughly cooled before you add filling.
- Putting the filling in a piping bag will help make filling the shells easy. Plus, it will offer a clean presentation.
- Serve the mini cannolis fresh, as the wet ingredients will soften the shells after a bit.
- Using a stand or hand mixer helps to ensure you get that ultra-creamy texture to the filling. Otherwise, you must use your elbow grease to get it whipped up.
How to Store
Make Ahead
You can make the shells and filling in advance. Just keep the shells in an airtight container at room temperature. Then store the filling in the fridge in a sealed container. If you add the filling early, it will cause the shells to get soggy over time. So fill them right before serving.
Refrigerate
Refrigerate any of the cups you did not eat right away. You can store them in the fridge for 1-3 days. The pie shells will get softer each day, so they are best eaten on day one after being made.
Recipe FAQs
If you do not have a piping bag, you can spoon the mixture into the shells with a spoon. Alternatively, you can add the filling to a Ziploc Bag, cut off the tip, and then use it to fill the cups.
It is not recommended to freeze the cups. The shells will soften quite a bit once thawed, and the ricotta filling will become gritty in texture.
If you don’t want to use ricotta, swap it with cottage cheese or mascarpone cheese. The traditional flavor is ricotta, so knowing the cheese change will alter the flavor and texture.
More Bite Size Desserts
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Mini Cannoli Cups
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Ingredients
Cups
- 2 store-bought pie crusts room temperature
- ¼ cup raw turbinado sugar divided (granulated sugar will work)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Filling
- 15 ounces whole ricotta cheese drained in a fine mesh strainer overnight
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
- powdered sugar for dusting the top
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spray the bottom side of a mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Unroll the pie crusts on a lightly floured surface. If the pie crust cracks, pinch it back together.
- Sprinkle half of the sugar and cinnamon on the top of each pie crust and gently rub until they’re evenly coated with the cinnamon and sugar.
- Using a 2 ½ or 3 inch round cookie cutter, cut out as many rounds as you can get. Save the scraps and reroll to get as many as possible.
- Carefully shape the crust circles around the underside of each mini muffin cup.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until just slightly golden brown.
- Allow the cups to cool completely before filling.
Filling
- In a large mixing bowl, add the ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, orange zest and vanilla. Mix just until combined using a hand mixer or a whisk.
- Once the cups are completely cooled, spoon the filling into each of the cups. You can also add the filling to a disposable piping bag or storage bag and cut a large hole in the tip to pipe it into the cups.
Topping
- Sprinkle a few mini chocolate chips over each cannoli cup.
- Dust with a light layer of additional powdered sugar, if desired.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
Nutrition
(Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.)
