We used homemade florentines (lace cookies) to make cannoli shells and filled them with an easy ricotta chocolate chip filling! These are an absolutely delicious dessert, with a super thin, crispy shell that's much easier than making a regular cannoli shell.
I've always wanted to try making cannoli from scratch, but I avoid frying at all costs. Not so much for health reasons, but I can't stand cleaning up oil and it makes such a huge mess every time!
A few days ago, we were testing a recipe for honey florentines, and we realized that they actually work really well as cannoli shells! They're much thinner and crispier, but they hold up surprisingly well to ricotta filling and they taste fantastic. Plus, they're much easier to make!
Give these a try for the holidays, or any time you feel like getting a little fancy in the kitchen. You can also just leave the florentines unrolled and enjoy them plain!
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Florentine Cannoli Ingredients
For the florentines
- Butter: Unsalted is best here.
- Brown sugar: This will give your florentine a delicious, caramel-like flavor.
- Honey: We love the flavor honey adds to these florentines! Make sure to use real honey – it should have a floral taste and smell. The cheaper stuff you'll find at the grocery store isn't 100% real honey. It's made with a variety of less expensive syrups, like corn syrup.
- Flour: All purpose is best here. We have not tested this recipe with gluten free flour.
- Salt and vanilla: To balance out the flavor.
For the cannoli filling
- Ricotta: The key to making the perfect filling is to drain your ricotta to remove as much moisture as possible. If you skip this step, the filling may be too watery and thin, and could affect the sturdiness of the florentines.
- Powdered sugar: This is essential for adding sweetness to the filling. Feel free to add more or less depending on your preferences.
- Vanilla: For extra flavor.
- Orange zest: Technically optional, but we highly suggest using it! A small amount of orange zest adds so much flavor to the filling and pairs beautifully with ricotta, chocolate and honey.
- Mini chocolate chips, both for the filling and the ends of your cannoli. We also like to use chopped pistachios for garnish.
How to Make this Florentine Cannoli Recipe
PREP: Drain the ricotta: Lay out 2 pieces of paper towel on a flat surface. Spread the ricotta in a thin layer on top of the paper towel. Top with more paper towel and press down until it feels wet. Let sit for 30 minutes, replacing the paper towel once halfway through. This will remove as much moisture as possible from the ricotta so the cannoli filling is the proper consistency.
STEP 1: Preheat oven to 375˚F and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the butter, brown sugar and honey until melted.
Remove from heat and whisk in the flour, salt and vanilla until no lumps remain.
STEP 2: Optional: Let the dough cool so it's easier to work with (we place ours in the freezer for 20 minutes). Each dollop of batter should be a heaping ½ teaspoon (~¾ teaspoon). Place the dollops of batter on the sheet pan, making sure to leave at least 3 inches of space between each cookie. (These spread a LOT!)
Bake for 6-8 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and carefully transfer the parchment paper + cookies to a cooling rack right away (we slide it off the pan to the cooling rack).
STEP 3: Let the florentines cool for about 30 seconds just until they are cool enough to handle. Using the handle of a spatula or whisk (ours has a ¾-inch circumference), carefully wrap the florentine around the handle so the circle overlaps. It will harden pretty quickly.
Repeat with remaining florentines – if they start to solidify too quickly, pop them back in the oven for 15 seconds to make them pliable again.
STEP 4: Make the ricotta filling: In a mixing bowl, mix together the drained ricotta, powdered sugar, vanilla, orange zest and mini chocolate chips until well combined.
STEP 5: Using a round piping tip, pipe the ricotta mixture into the florentine shells. Fill one side halfway, then flip and fill the other side.
Optional: dip each end in more mini chocolate chips or chopped pistachios. Enjoy!
Storage
Without the ricotta filling, you can store the florentine cookie shells at room temperature for up to 3 days, in the refrigerator for up to a few weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just be careful – they're fairly fragile!
Once you add the filling, these florentine cannoli are best consumed within a few hours.
However, you can keep the ricotta filling stored in an airtight container or piping bag for up to 5 days, and then pipe in the filling just before serving!
Tips and FAQ
Top tip
To make the florentine cookie dough easier to work with, chill it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. Once it's chilled, you can roll it into balls, which will give you perfectly round, uniform cookies. When the mixture is still warm, it can be more difficult to shape, and your florentines may end up a tad misshapen.
More tips
- Be careful – the florentine shells are fragile! They're quite thin and crispy, so make sure to handle them carefully. Once you add in the ricotta filling, they're a bit more sturdy.
- Leave plenty of space on the sheet pan when baking the florentines. They spread quite a bit! It's always better to bake more batches with fewer cookies per sheet than to risk the dough running together. Plus, these cook very quickly, so it doesn't take much extra time.
- Work fairly quickly when rolling the florentines – they harden up in less than 2 minutes!
- If your florentines start to harden up too quickly, pop them back in the oven for 15-20 seconds. They should become pliable again very quickly.
- Cannoli topping ideas: The most common options are mini chocolate chips and pistachios, but you don't have to stop there! You can dip the ends of your cannoli in sprinkles, candied citrus pieces, English toffee pieces, toasted coconut, etc.
- Cannoli shell: To make these extra fancy, you can also dip the ends of your florentine cannoli shells in melted chocolate and any desired toppings. You can also dust the finished cannoli with powdered sugar before serving.
- Don't skip draining the ricotta. Otherwise, your filling may be too watery, and it may soften the cannoli shell.
More holiday dessert recipes
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📖 Recipe
Florentine Cannoli
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: Makes ~30 cannoli
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
We used homemade florentines (lace cookies) to make cannoli shells and filled them with an easy ricotta chocolate chip filling! These are an absolutely delicious dessert, with a super thin, crispy shell that's much easier than making a regular cannoli shell.
Ingredients
Florentines:
- 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) unsalted butter
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Cannoli Filling:
- 2 cups ricotta, drained to remove as much moisture as possible
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)
- ⅓ cup mini chocolate chips
- For serving: mini chocolate chips and finely chopped pistachios
Instructions
- Drain the ricotta: Lay out 2 pieces of paper towel on a flat surface. Spread the ricotta in a thin layer on top of the paper towel. Top with more paper towel and press down until it feels wet. Let sit for 30 minutes, replacing the paper towel once halfway through. This will remove as much moisture as possible from the ricotta so the cannoli filling is the proper consistency.
- Make the florentines: Preheat oven to 375˚F and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the butter, brown sugar and honey until melted.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the flour, salt and vanilla until no lumps remain.
- Optional: Let the dough cool so it's easier to work with (we place ours in the freezer for 20 minutes). Each dollop of batter should be a heaping ½ teaspoon (~¾ teaspoon). Place the dollops of batter on the sheet pan, making sure to leave at least 3 inches of space between each cookie. (These spread a LOT!)
- Bake for 6-8 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and carefully transfer the parchment paper + cookies to a cooling rack right away (we slide it off the pan to the cooling rack).
- Let the florentines cool for about 30 seconds just until they are cool enough to handle. Using the handle of a spatula or whisk (ours has a ¾-inch circumference), carefully wrap the florentine around the handle so the circle overlaps. It will harden pretty quickly.
- Repeat with remaining florentines – if they start to solidify too quickly, pop them back in the oven for 15 seconds to make them pliable again.
- Make the ricotta filling: In a mixing bowl, mix together the drained ricotta, powdered sugar, vanilla, orange zest and mini chocolate chips until well combined.
- Using a round piping tip, pipe the ricotta mixture into the florentine shells. Fill one side halfway, then flip and fill the other side.
- Optional: dip each end in more mini chocolate chips or chopped pistachios. Enjoy!
Notes
To make the florentine cookie dough easier to work with, chill it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. Once it's chilled, you can roll it into balls, which will give you perfectly round, uniform cookies. When the mixture is still warm, it can be more difficult to shape, and your florentines may end up a tad misshapen.
STORAGE: Without the ricotta filling, you can store the florentine cookie shells at room temperature for up to 3 days, in the refrigerator for up to a few weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just be careful – they're fairly fragile!
Once you add the filling, these florentine cannoli are best consumed within a few hours.
Ricotta filling storage: You can keep the ricotta filling stored in an airtight container or piping bag for up to 5 days, and then pipe in the filling just before serving!
Leave plenty of space on the sheet pan when baking the florentines. They spread quite a bit! It's always better to bake more batches with fewer cookies per sheet than to risk the dough running together. Plus, these cook very quickly, so it doesn't take much extra time.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cannoli
- Calories: 89
- Sugar: 8.9 g
- Sodium: 34.1 mg
- Fat: 4.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 10.5 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 2.2 g
Susan Zawacki says
Recipe missed oven temperature link says Preheat oven to 375˚F and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
Laura says
I did make these today and Sooo wanted them to work for an Italian dessert for our upcoming pasta party, but I was really disappointed. They are a lace cookie and that worked but the cookie itself had a pure sugar taste ( like pralines). They were easier than doing regular cannolis for sure but not near the same outcome for flavor.
Appreciate the recipe but not for me.
Brent Harrison says
Hi Laura, the shell is almost entirely made of caramelized sugar. A florentine is pretty much a praline without the nuts. It's not meant to be a 1:1 substitute for a cannoli.
Sorry you were disappointed!
Mercedes says
Taste and presentation just in point 😮💨
Lizzy says
These tasted AMAZING! Made me feel like a proper chef despite how easy it was. My whisk was too big to wrap my shell around so I used my finger, which was actually the perfect size because I used up the filling pretty quick the bigger they were.
I honestly not the biggest fan of a ricotta filling so I used 1 cup of mascarpone with 1/2 sugar for my other batch and the flavors blended PERFECTLY together ✨️. Thank you so much for those recipe!❤️
Jade says
The shells were easy enough to make, used a metal turkey baster as a form. They were transported in an airtight container from Seattle to North Idaho for Christmas with minimal issues. Made the filling as instructed including absorbing excess moisture from the ricotta but it looked like too little for the ~20 shells that came out of the florentine recipe so I made a double batch, again drying the ricotta for ~30 minutes.
The shells were filled just before dinner was served and by the time I was about halfway through filling them, the shells were already melting to the point that I could not pick them up to dip them in the pistachios. Even after doubling the filling recipe, it was still not enough to fill all the shells. My sister in law had the idea to put them in their chest freezer while we had dinner and that was the only reason we were able to pick them up at all when we had dessert.
This recipe really needs some refining, I was surprised how far off the prescribed proportions were for the filling. Unless these are eaten immediately, the shells are just not a feasible substitution for the traditional fried dough.
Frank says
My shells came out very thin aand full of holes - truly a lace cookie. They don’t look like yours at all. Followed your recipe exactly. What could have gone wrong?
Brent Harrison says
Hi Frank, there will definitely be a few holes, and the florentines are thin by nature, but heating everything thoroughly on the stovetop and making sure it's evenly incorporated cut down on the holes for us. In my earlier tests of this recipe where I didn't mix everything thoroughly and let the butter and sugar melt together in the saucepan, I had a lot of holes. Did you use parchment paper?
Leslie says
These sound amazing! But would like to know how many a recipe makes.
averie says
how long can i refrigerate the dough? if i make it tonight will it be good to use bake on tuesday?
Gabriel says
Can these be made with gf flour