Here's one from pastry chef Anna Olsen.

1 cup dry ricotta
2/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon zest
1 cup whipping cream
5 Tbsp semisweet chocolate, grated

Pulse ricotta with icing sugar, cinnamon and lemon zest in food processor until smooth. Whip cream to medium peak and fold into ricotta. Fold in 5 Tbsp of grated chocolate.

To assemble, fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip with cannoli filling. Pipe into shells, started at middle and working out to each end. Cannoli can be topped with a little cream for garnish.

Here is a link that might be useful: cannoli

Lou

I have no recipes for filling, just wanted to say I love the idea of using the pizzelles for the canolli ... I can almost taste them. No, that wasn't me who took a bite out of that one on the bottom :)

Lou,
Here's a recipe that we like & I've been using for many years.

Cannoli Filling Recipe
Fills approx. 8 cannoli shells

1 cup ricotta cheese, drained
3/4 to 1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or orange extract
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips and/or pistachio nuts, crushed

Important that the ricotta be drained to remove excess liquid. Place ricotta in a sieve & place that over a bowl to drain & kept under refrigeration, overnight. I like to use the food processor w/metal blade, process ricotta and sugar together until smooth, add extract. Place chocolate chips or pistachios in a small bowl. Using a pastry bag or a plastic storage bag with the bottom tip cut off & place filling in bag. Fill cannoli shells prior to serving with ricotta mixture. Dip the ends in chocolate chips or nuts.

On occasions I'll fold the mini chocolate chips into the filling, & use the crushed pistachios on the ends.

Note: If the ricotta seems wet when you open the container then it must be drained, & then sometimes your lucky & get a fairly dry container. In that case sometimes just a few hours of draining will be sufficient.

Lucy

Despite these other recipes i have to say that the most delicious cannoli filling is made with fresh ricotta that you buy from a good cheese shop NOT the stuff in a plastic container in the grocers. You then just need to add sugar to taste, confectioner's sugar works best because there's then no graininess. after that you are on your own. add chopped chocolate, pistachios, candies orange peel, a hint of cinnamon, orange flower water; it's up to you. But beautiful fresh ricotta is heavenly. (And if you want a smoother textue mix it with some marscapone.)

Thanks yo'al: I have these saved.

Lucy:
Can I put the Ricotta in a cheese cloth and squeeze it to drain the water.

I did this before with something. Probably my head.
Don't get old, you forget things, especially with a Cheesecloth on your head.
Lou

thanks to everyone for bringing back old memories. My part time job throughout high school was at an Italian pastry shop in Ct (DiMare's in Riverside). At least once a month was canoli day where we would have to take out the dowels from the HOT canolis. We would burn our fingers. We sold so many that we would have to fill them most of the time for the customers. It took me three years to like canolis, just so rich.

Great job.
Jo

Granjan,
Your absolutely right, having the best quality ricotta is the best.

Lou,
Cheesecloth is an option of course, in that case it then would need to be hung in the frig w/a bowl underneath. Not to sure about squeezing it, if you try that, would you let me know how that worked for you.

Lucy

Linda,

No fair!! they got to be filled first LOL!!

Darn, now I am hungry for cannoli.

Granjan: Missed your thread .
I don't know of anyplace close by, like a Cheese Shop.
Guess I'll have to settle for the one in the Plastic container.
Lucy:
I will let you know about squeezing. Weeeeoooo!!!
The cheese that is.
I seem to remember my Grandmother doing that.

Jo Jo:
At first, I thought you meant Riverside , NJ
Thanks everyone. Lou

Oh, how I love cannoli! My dad made the best but yours will be just as good (almost)! Yummmmmm, I can almost taste yours - you've filled a couple and eaten them, right? Promise you won't fill them and let them sit and get soggy

Sherry.

Oh Lou, the shells look great, I'll be watching to see how you fill them. Send two to me please (I'm not greedy - I'll share with Max).

Lee

Hi Everyone I'm back:
I really screwed up. I didn't make it dry enough.

Didn't have a piping tube handy, so I used a trick my German Pastry Chef showed me.

I took a 8 1/2 X 11 copy paper and rolled it into a long funnel ( penny size end)
and Scotch Taped it together.Cut a Star on the small end,
filled it with the filling.
Roll up the loose big end to the filling, then squeeze it like a toothpaste tube.

Worked perfect. The only problem , the filling was too soft,
so I put it all into a Small Dipping Bowl and used it for Pizzelle Ricotta Dip.

It was delicious.
Now I have to find the good Ricotta in a Cheese store and start over.
Granjan:
This better be worth it, or I'll get you.

I'll have to get some whipping cream too.

Lucy: You have to come over and show me how to dry the Ricotta.

I just thought of a way to dry up the Filling. If it works I'll be back.
LOU

PS: Pizzelle Ricotta Dip !!! Can I claim this for a new Recipe ???

Yes, and don't forget to copyright it, LOL!!

Kathleen:
You're not supposed to be Bad . It's Lent.
Lou

How clever--and how beautiful those shells look, Lou! I'm going to try that myself. They're so much prettier than just the regular old plain ones.

When I was in college, I had an Italian boyfriend (who went on to become known as a cook, among other things--he's been mentioned here, and I've bitten my tongue) whose mother and aunts were the most amazing cooks. Sunday dinners always included homemade cannoli. They didn't have one of those fancy stainless-steel cannoli forms either--they had a broom handle that was cut into lengths of about eight inches or so, which they oiled and then shaped the shells around. Might enable you to do more than one at a time, Lou.

I DID IT !!!!!
I added 3 Tablespoons of Jello Instant Vanilla Pudding to the filling.
Then beat it for 2 minutes, with a fork.
It worked perfect, thickened the filling and the Taste was Great.

I didn't have any Chocolate Chips or Nuts on hand, so I chopped up Snickers Bars.

Now I had Both !!!

The long copy paper Funnel worked out good too.

Here it is finished, you can seehow thick the filling is, on the back of the Cannoli.
MMMMMMMMeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhh !!!!!

LOU

{{gwi:1494288}}

Maureen:
Sorry I didn't scroll up, when I came back in to Post, so I missed your's.

This was just a trial thing, while I was making Pizzelles.
I only needed about six.
I didn't have any Cream on hand so I made

Lucy's Recipe , which I messed up.( too wet )
but it worked out well ( read the Thread above )

I still have the " Best in the World Pizzelle Recipe " , if anyone wants it.
Lou

Oh whoa! Do those look soooo good Lou!
I'm in the middle of supper prep, fahgetit! Pass one over please :)

OH! Lou,

Your cannoli looks wonderful!!

Great idea of using the instant pudding to help thicken it. Dinner has been over, it's dessert time....did ya give them all away already & forget mine???

Lucy

Lou, you're making me want a cannoli. We make them frequently, and we are surrounded by wonderful Italian pastry shops. We make our filling with impastata ricotta, which some refer to as "pastry ricotta".

2 pounds impastata
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate -- shaved

To make filling, whip together the impastata, sugar, and shaved chocolate.

Fill the shells with a pastry bag. If desired, dip the ends of the filled cannolis into the chopped nuts (walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, almonds).

Lou, here's the ricotta we use for the filling. It isn't easy to find, but certainly worth looking for.
{{gwi:1494291}}

Hi Debbie: Thanks for the info. Where is NJ. ? I think it is near NY. and PA.
I haven't seen that brand here in the Pocono's.
The best I've tried in Philly and here is Maggio's

I'll have to ask around, or ask if someone is commuting to NJ., where ever that is,
if they can pick up some for me.

Lucy:
I have the shells kept and I put the Filling in a container.
I have to fill them when you get here, or they will be soggy.
Don't tell Kathleen !!!!!

It didn't take long to finish off the one, after I took the picture.
Lou

OMG ... now I am drooling, that cannoli looks so yummy !

Too late, Lou, I read it!
I hope you are practicing I'll Take you Home Again, Kathleen...It's almost time you know!

Ohiomom: Drool !!! Drool !!! Drool !!!
Kathleen:
That's right 3/17.
I'll have to watch that John Wayne Movie again, to learn the song.
Maybe I'll make a CD and send it to you. When Irish Eyes are Smiling, Danny Boy,etc.
Don't tell Lucy.
Did I tell you about the Clover Pizza I made for Micky Shaunessy?

Debbie:
I forgot to put in, " LOL "
LOU

Way out west here we don't have any decent Italian or Jewish delis or shops in my neighborhood.

So I've NEVER had a decent cannoli and so I've never liked them.

I think I could get to liking them if they were like yours Lou!

Oh I haven't had a cannoli in SO LONG! And it's been years...maybe even decades...since I made them. Lou, if you've got a good Italian deli or market nearby they may sell the Eye-talian riccota in metal containers. Much drier, and creamier. It's a challenge trying not to eat it so that you have enough for the cannoli filling. I could never manage to get the stuff in the plastic containers to be dry enough.

They look fantastic! And I love the pizzelle shells.

Maureen_me- can you explain the broom handle shaped cannoli forms? My mother always fried them around the metal tubes (and since we only had 4 of the forms it took forever...burning fingers all the while). Were they baking the shells and then shaping them warm around the broom handle?

Nina

Lou they look super. I haven't had one of those in years and years. I wish you could ship one my way for dessert tonight!

Nina:
They were probably baking them ,instead of frying them on a metal form.

Next time I make pizzelles, I will have dowels the right size,to use as a form.

All you do is take the Pizzelle; while hot, and wrap it around the dowel.
I pushed the ends against something until cooled, about a minute.

I got the idea of using Pizzelles, because they made Sweetcones for Ice Cream this way.
This was back in the 40's. They had metal cones to wrap them around.

We could buy a shopping bag full of broken cones, for 3 cents.
Of course we knew the guy that was baking them.

I think an Ice Cream Cone was 3 cents then.
LOU

Nina, they used the broomstick sections exactly the way people use the metal forms--they shaped the dough around them and threw them in the oil. (It occurs to me that they obviously didn't need to oil the forms beforehand as I said above--probably I remember it that way because the wood had already absorbed oil from repeated use.)

I'm guessing you could just go to the hardware store and get a few feet of wooden dowel the right diameter, cut it into cannoli-size lengths, and save a bunch of money over the steel ones--assuming that the wood isn't treated with anything nasty. As far as I know, nobody ever died from eating those cannoli. (And I just Googled it--apparently, using broomstick forms was the rule rather than the exception back in the days before Williams Sonoma!)

Oh no, I wish I hadn't looked! Lou you are making it so hard to stay on the diet I just started today.

I wish I had just one bite, well really the whole thing! They look great.

Maureen:
I didn't know they put the wood in the frying pan.
I'm going to use the dowels, with the Pizzelles. when I make them,
because I'll only do about a dozen at one time, or else they better go on a diet.
Khandi:
I didn't get to the larger market yet,to buy the whipping cream.
The Jello Instant Vanilla Pudding worked great to thicken the Filling.
If anyone uses the Pizzelles, give us a report.
LOU

On another discussion about making cannolis, I ran into what I thought are really good ideas.

1. Paint the inside of your shells with melted chocolate. This will help to keep them from getting soggy. (ChefTalk Forum)

2. Some recipes that I have seen for the fillings incorporated mascarpone cheese into the filling. However, they all recommended allowing the ricotta to drain really well before using.

Lisbet:
I have to be Psychic, I was thinking about this last night.

It would be hard to do, because it's tight. Maybe I could pour it in and swish .

The little trick, adding Jello Instant Pudding ,worked good, to thicken.

Then you could also add Flavored Jello, instead of Vanilla

Trixie:
They " were " great !!!!! LOL

LOU

I am looking for a filling to put in the pizzelle shells instead of the cannoli filling. I am making these for a wedding and don't want to use the ricotta method since they will be sitting out for w long time please email suggestions to Dchef45@aol.com thank you