I did not grow up eating Italian food. Crepes with spinach and roasted chicken? Yes. Stuffed shells with a homemade marinara sauce? No. And to be honest, I didn’t find Italian food that appealing. For a long time, I much prefered a crusty loaf of homemade bread over a bowl of pasta.
Ryan, however, did grow up eating Italian food, and his love for the ubiquitous cuisine has slowly rubbed off on me. We’re celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary on Thursday night, and what are we making? Pasta with shrimp and mussels. I credit my growing affection for Italian food to both Ryan…and a few Italian restaurants I’ve had the privilege of eating at over the last few years. Because good Italian food can make anyone a convert. And I’m not talking about the Olive Garden.
One of the many classic Italian dishes my husband loves is the cannoli. A deep fried pastry shell stuffed with ricotta cheese and a drizzle of chocolate. Most anyone can get behind a dessert like this. Unfortunately, a good cannoli can be hard to find. Either the shell is soggy, the cheese isn’t fresh, or the chocolate tastes stale. There’s nothing sadder than biting into a bad cannoli (well, that’s not necessarily true, but it is still sad).
I wanted to make Ryan a cannoli this weekend, but didn’t feel too eager to get out my frying pan and set off the smoke detector again. So I did what I do best: I made a tart. And these cannoli tarts are just as delicious as the best cannoli you’ll find in New York City (again, this might be a stretch…but really, they’re still very very good). I used a mini cupcake pan to make the tarts, but a standard muffin pan would work just as well. The filling is made with a combination of ricotta and mascarpone cheese. By adding mascarpone the filling becomes even creamier and richer. And for chocolate? Well, I just sprinkled a few chocolate chips on the top of each little tart. Pretty tasty.
So enjoy the recipe. And in honor of the cannoli’s color scheme, here are a few of my favorite black and white picks for little girls.
Cannoli Tarts
Yields 15-20 mini tarts
1 package refrigerated pie crust (or make your own favorite double-crust recipe)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 cup ricotta cheese (whole milk)
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup chocolate chips
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the ricotta cheese, the mascarpone cheese, the powdered sugar, and the vanilla extract. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to chill for at least 2-3 hours (to be honest, I wasn’t that patient…they still turned out fine! But the filling will appear thicker the longer it chills).
Roll out pie dough on a lightly floured surface. The dough should be slightly thinner than if you were making a standard pie. Sprinkle dough with cinnamon and granulated sugar. Lightly roll rolling pin across the surface to press the cinnamon sugar into the dough. Using a 2.5 or 3 inch cookie cutter or biscuit cutter, cut out circles and press pastry into mini muffin tins, making mini pastry cups. Once complete, allow these cups to chill for 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake chilled tart shells for 10-15 minutes, or until just lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Use a spoon or a piping bag to fill each cooled pastry cup with the filling mixture. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and serve immediately.
