cannoli cheesecake recipe

well, it's more of a tart situation filled with cheesecake so call it what you want.

Holy cannoli HELLO! HI!

This one has been two months in the making and I’ve been teasing y’all with it on the gram for a while now. So I hope this lives up to the hype!

I am a huge fan of cannoli, and truly there is no improving on this perfect dessert. Anytime I’m in Eagle Rock I’ll stop by Eagle Rock Italian Deli + Bakery and pick-up a box of these delightful little pastries. At least two of them are downed on the car ride home. They’re truly the best in La. If you’re unfamiliar? And have never had a cannoli before??? It’s this wonderfully crisp fried pastry shell filled with a ricotta (sometimes with mascarpone) chocolate, faintly cinnamon spiced cream with tips dipped in chopped pistachios or more chocolate chips.

Back in December I ordered a small container of ricotta for delivery (with other groceries… I’m not insane okay) but, they sent a 5 pound tub. Which is fine I guess, but I’m not a huge ricotta eater. It’s delish but I don’t find myself cooking or baking with it often, until now. Anyways, that it what kicked off this two month whirlwind of testing. This easily could have been one of those things where I made it once or twice and been done, never touched it again, never shared the recipe. But, at the same time this recipe was begging to be perfected. 9 cheesecakes later I’ve landed on this as MY perfect iteration of the recipe

version 1: the flavor was!! so good, perfect. the texture was off tho, a little grainy and the crust was too thick and very crumbly. It also cracked big time, hence the whipped cream cover up. I CAN DO BETTER.

.Developing this recipe involved many a deep dive into all things cannoli. During this research I found multiple people saying Galbani is the best ricotta for cannoli, which meant it had to be the best ricotta for cheesecake. I tested 4 ricotta brands and Galbani did come out on top, the texture is just perfect for this. While I have ya here, I need to let you know, it is imperative to throughly strain the ricotta overnight before using, or at a minimum four hours. All the extra moisture impedes a final texture that is lush, light and creamy. (not an ad, promise.)

Through every test I just wasn’t loving the cheesecake to crust ratio. I also didn’t want to have a 2 inch thick crust to compete with the filling. Eventually I landed on turning this bad boy into a tart. Which makes everything easier, easier to unmold, easier to bake (without a water bath, thank god), and easier to eat- imo.