You’ve probably eaten these bad boys with chocolate chips or pistachios or even candied fruit. Traditional cannoli (already in their plural form) are beautiful and perfect, and doing anything to mess them up would just be plain sacrilegious, right? Well, you may want to look away, then, because here are 10 ways to turn your cannoli into a whole new experience.
1. Add Ice Cream
Photo courtesy of @jakeandelleskitchen on Instagram
After studying abroad in Italy for a semester, I became hooked on the concept of ice cream inside of cannoli shells. It’s near impossible to find stateside, but then I realized I could just make them myself, and now you can, too! Dip the sides in melted chocolate after filling the shells up with your favorite ice cream, and then sprinkle on your favorite toppings for a cannoli experience that’s perfect for beating the summer heat.
2. Make Them Pizza-Flavored
Photo courtesy of @nycdining on Instagram
I know this sounds kind of crazy, but savory cannoli are totally a thing. Make these for your next event and impress all of your guests.
3. Shape Them Like Tacos
Photo courtesy of pillsbury.com
I don’t know why I hadn’t considered this before. Pillsbury’s website graced us all with this recipe so that we can maximize cannoli cream and have ample space for chocolate chips and other toppings.
4. Add Nutella
Photo courtesy of @dimannobakery on Instagram
There is nothing better than being able to add Nutella to one of my favorite things. Mix it into your cannoli cream, pipe it in, and then feel free to add chopped roasted hazelnuts, chocolate chips, or fruit. Sprinkle some confectioner’s sugar up top and then get ready to satisfy two cravings in one.
5. Turn Them Into Cheesecake
GIF courtesy of @delish on instagram
I’ll just let the website describe this one: “Studded with mini chocolate chips and topped with pieces of waffle cones, this Italian-style cheesecake is insane.”
6. Fill Some Strawberries
Photo courtesy of Lori Yates on foxeslovelemons.com
These are perfect for summer. Invite some friends over, hang out poolside, and eat some cannoli-cream-filled deliciousness. Perfect with a champagne cocktail.
7. Make Healthy Cannoli Bites
Photo courtesy of @holycannolito on Instagram
These cannoli bites are low-carb, so you can enjoy them while you ready your body for the beach. They’re awesome on the side of fruit salad.
8. Turn Them Into Dessert Calzones
Photo courtesy of tablespoon.com
These dessert calzones are perfect for when you want cannoli cream in a warm pastry, topped with chocolate sauce and mini chips.
9. Make Oreo Cannoli
Photo courtesy of 9Gag.com
There’s nothing better than realizing that one of your favorite things now has an Oreo flavor. Although you can’t buy this in stores and have to do the work yourself for the shells, there’s a huge payoff. Enjoy these with a glass of milk. If you don’t feel like going through all the work, make these Oreo bars and throw some cannoli cream between two of them.
#SpoonTip: Instead of throwing the Oreo filling away, you can save it and mix with a little bit of heavy cream to ice cupcakes.
10. Turn Them Into Breakfast
Photo courtesy of @foodbeast on Instagram
Bacon, eggs, sausage, and cheddar cheese, all wrapped up in a hashbrown shell. The recipe is pretty time consuming, but it’s well worth it. After all, breakfast is important.