Cannoli Recipe

When I was a kid, my family moved around quite a bit and one good thing that came from moving around a lot was getting to try a lot of different foods.

When we lived in New Jersey I ate a lot of Italian food and one of my favorite desserts was Cannoli. Since moving to Iowa I have found that it is not as easy to find some of the foods I loved growing up, so I am forced to make my own and I love sharing these recipes with you.

Recently a craving hit for cannoli and thankfully I found the ingredients I needed at a local grocery store to make a delicious Homemade Cannoli Recipe that tastes just like the desserts I loved as a kid.

The best part about this Italian cannoli recipe is that it is super easy to make. Even if you aren’t familiar with this dessert, you should feel confident trying your hand at making this Italian dessert with this simple to follow recipe. 

Make Your Own Homemade Cannoli 

When the craving hit, I couldn’t find the shells premade at the store (you can pick them up by clicking here on Amazon) so I was forced to make them myself which is the hardest part of this homemade cannoli recipe in my opinion.

Much like making a pie crust, it is going to be faster and easier to just pick up a premade shell when wanting to make a pie. Since picking up the premade shells wasn’t an option in my area and I wanted cannoli right away, I made my own. 

It can be difficult to get them into the shape you want and pretty time-consuming because you have to watch the pan the whole time to make sure they take the shape of traditional cannoli.

If you don’t care what they look like you could always just make a cookie shape and spoon the filling on top to save yourself a bunch of time.

I did that with a few just to see if it changes the texture of taste of this cannoli recipe but it really didn’t make a difference it just didn’t look like the traditional cannoli I remember from my childhood. 

It kind of took the shape and look of an eclair…a really really tasty eclair. This is perfect for a quick dessert but maybe not as pretty when presented as homemade cannoli.

I may try it this way again sometime and call it cannoli cookies or cannoli eclairs so everyone will know what to expect when I serve it this way. 

To make the cannoli shell you will add all ingredients to a mixer and then let the dough sit while you mix up the filling.

Once your filling has been made place it in the refrigerator until ready to use and you can get back to the dough.

Tips for Making the Dough

When rolling out the dough, be sure to roll the dough out on floured plastic wrap, if it is really sticky add another layer of plastic wrap to prevent a huge mess.

The next step is to roll out the dough and cut out circles that are about 4 inches long.

Roll dough out as thin as possible but make sure you can pick up your circles without them falling apart.

How to Make the Cannoli Shell

Heat a skillet with about an inch of canola oil and when it starts to bubble it’s ready to cook the shells. Fold the circles in half pressing the edges in the center together to create a funnel.

While cooking you may need to place a fork inside of the shell to keep the top from caving in.

Or you can pick up some Cannoli Forms on Amazon by clicking here. 

This is the part that I give up on when I am not trying to make my shells look pretty. As long as they are cooked, they serve their purpose. I have never been one to care about how pretty my food turned out, that was until I became a blogger of course. Who would want to click on a recipe for homemade cannoli if the picture didn’t look appetizing? 

So I am working on the presentation, I think they look appetizing but I know the final appearance could use a little improvement. 

I am sure they will look much better once I pick up the cannoli forms, they are less than ten dollars, I don’t know why I have been putting it off. 

Cannoli Filling

Once they are done cooking and cooled, scoop the filling inside and then sprinkle with powdered sugar. I like to add more chocolate chips at this point because it looks nice and tastes great!

These cannolis are best when served immediately but if you have any leftovers, send them to my house or keep them refrigerated for up to one week.

Have you ever made a homemade cannoli recipe before? Share your tips on how you make your shell, I would love to hear them!