I just can’t stay away from making cheesecakes! I have another awesome cheesecake recipe to share with you. It’s Mini Cannoli Cheesecakes! A cheesecake with a hint of orange covered in cannoli filing and rolled in mini chocolate chips. Heaven!
I was going through one of my Food magazines and they had a recipe for ricotta cheesecake with almonds. It looked so delicious but for some reason, I got an idea for this cannoli cheesecake instead.
I absolutely love cannoli and in combination with cheesecake, it’s perfection! The smoothness of cheesecake combined with the lightness of cannoli filling is to die for. Add a light orange flavor to it and you have a refreshing, light dessert. Chocolate chips is just a “cherry” on top of this heavenly dessert.
I made these cheesecakes as individual desserts but you can make it into a full sized cheesecake very easily. Just use a spring form to bake your cheesecake and remember to adjust the baking time. Then cover the entire cheesecake with the filling, including the sides. Use your hand to add chocolate chips to the side of the cheesecake.
Mini Cannoli Cheesecakes
Ingredients
- Crust:
- 5-6 waffle cones
- 2 tbs butter
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Cheesecake:
- 16 ounce Cream Cheese room temperature
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 Tablespoons corn starch
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Zest from 1/2 of medium orange
- Cannoli Filling:
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbs white granulated sugar
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta
- Remaining orange zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbs white granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp Amaretto optional
- 1 cup mini chocolate morsels
Instructions
- Crust:Crush the waffle cones in the food processor. Stir in the melted butter and vanilla. Mix very well. Press the crushed waffle cones into the muffin pan cups, evenly, all over the bottom and a little bit up the side. Set aside.
- Cheesecake:
- Start beating the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Add the vanilla extract and sour cream into the cream cheese mixture. Add the eggs, one at the time, beating after each addition.
- Lower the speed to low and add orange zest, sugar, corn starch and salt. Make sure that all ingredients are well combined.
- Pour the cheesecake batter into the muffin pan with crust, about 3/4 full. (You can use aluminum foil cupcake liners, that are lightly greased inside, to make the cheesecakes. That might make it easier to take out of the pan.)
- Bake at 325, for about 18-20 minutes. Touch the centers with your finger to make sure it's done (It should still jiggle but not be gooey.)
- Cannoli filling:
- Beat the heavy cream and 2 tbs of sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer, until soft peaks appear.
- In a separate bowl, beat ricotta, sugar, vanilla (Amaretto if using) and orange zest for a couple of minutes.
- Slowly, fold the ricotta mixture into the whipped heavy cream until all incorporated.
- Make sure the cheesecakes are completely cooled before covering with cannoli filling.
- Add the chocolate chips to a shallow bowl and spread it out. Cover the sides of the mini cheesecakes with the filling and carefully roll it in the mini chips. Press them in lightly. Using a spatula, spread more filling on the top of the cheesecake.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Note: to take out the cheesecakes from the pan: Let the cheesecakes cool in the pan. Once they are at room temperature, run a lightly greased butter knife between the cheesecake and the cup to separate it from the pan. Then gently take them out using a small rubber spatula. Or, you can bake the cheesecakes in the aluminum foil cupcake cups just make sure to grease inside the aluminum cups so it will be easier to peel off.
Nutrition
Here is some more inspiration!
Layered Creme Brulee Cheesecake
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Donna says
How do I get the cheesecakes out of the muffin tins?
lyuba says
Hi Donna!
Let the cheesecakes cool in the pan. Once they are at room temperature, run a lightly greased butter knife between the cheesecake and the cup to separate it from the pan. Then gently take them out using a small rubber spatula. Or, you can bake the cheesecakes in the aluminum foil cupcake cups just make sure to grease inside the aluminum cups so it will be easier to peel off.
lori says
This looks like a fantastic recipe…..to bake it as a single larger cheesecake, what size springform pan would you suggest and what would the baking instructions be for that size? Thanks!
lyuba says
Hi Lori!
You can definitely make it into one cheesecake. Since the recipe is only for mini ones, I’d use an 8-inch spring form so that the cheesecake looks a little bigger. You can follow the baking and water bath instructions from this cheesecake: https://www.willcookforsmiles.com/2014/07/white-chocolate-raspberry-swirl-cheesecake.html but start checking for doneness after 55 minutes since it’s a smaller cheesecake. I hope it works out well for you!!
Marylou says
You say to crush cones, then you say press graham crackers in tin, but you do not list graham crackers
in the ingredients. Are you using any graham crackers or just the crushed cones?
Love canolis, don’t love making the shells!
lyuba says
I apologize for the misprint and the late response! It is supposed to be waffle cones! Thank you for letting me know, Marylou!
Lindsay @Artsy-Fartsy Mama says
Oh my…these look amazing!! I definitely need to try them out!
Thanks for sharing at Artsy Corner, you were featured this week!
lyuba says
Thank you so much, Lindsay!! Yay 🙂
Stephanie Pass says
They look amazing! I just went to the store to grab a couple of the ingredients I was missing.
How hard is it to get them out of the muffin pan?
lyuba says
Thank you! It wasn’t hard at all. Just make sure you that you do grease the muffin pan and let them cool after taking the out of the oven. Run a knife between the cheesecake and the muffin cup and then very gently twist. I also use a thin fork to help me lift them.
Heather @ French Press says
gorgeous!
lyuba says
Thank you!
Cathy@LemonTreeDwelling says
Oh my goodness – these are GENIUS, Lyuba!!
lyuba says
Awww, thank you, Cathy!
katie says
Yum! My husband would go ga-ga over these mini cheesecakes!
lyuba says
Thank you so much, Katie!
Kristen Duke says
Oh my goodness! These sound amazing! Cheesecake and cannoli are both so tasty by themselves so I can only imagine them together!
lyuba says
Thank you so much, Kristen!
Shamene says
wow these look so good!!!
lyuba says
Thank you, Shamene!
lisa@cookingwithcurls says
Wow…..those look amazing Lyuba! I’m sure they are delicious. Thank you so much for sharing with us at Best of the Weekend. Have a wonderful week, and we hope to see you again next week!
lyuba says
Thank you, Lisa!