Cannoli Cookies have all the flavors of your favorite Italian pastry: pistachio, chocolate, orange and ricotta but in an easy to make cake-like cookie.
If you love the flavor of cannoli, but want an easy, filling-free version, these soft, cakey cookies are a must-try.
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Italian Style Cookies without the Fuss
These drop cookies have ricotta cheese in the dough and are filled with mini chocolate chips, orange zest, and salted, chopped pistachios.
They'll remind you of the cannoli pastries you get at the Italian deli but without the fuss of making delicate, crunchy shells and carefully filling them with homemade cannoli cream.
Italian cookies have a special place in my heart and on this site. One of my most popular recipes is Italian Butter Cookies. Have you heard of Befanini Cookies? Then there are Orange Cookies with Orange Icing, Snowballs and Easy Christmas Cut-Outs.
How to Make These Italian Cookies
This Cannoli cookie recipe is made with a drop dough. Drop cookie doughs are called that because the dough is dropped onto a are just like making an easy drop cookie like chocolate chip cookies.
Beat with an electric mixer butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add drained ricotta cheese.
Mix in egg, vanilla extract, cinnamon and fresh orange zest.
Add dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until no white streaks of flour remain. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula.
Finally pour mini chocolate chips and chopped pistachios to the bowl and stir to combine.
Bake.
Cannoli cookies are an easy drop cookie to make but they do call for more ingredients than say a chocolate chip or peanut butter cookie so I suggest gathering all your ingredients and measuring them before you get launched.
Ingredients
- Butter
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Ricotta cheese (be sure to drain excess liquid)
- Vanilla extract
- Ground cinnamon (I like Vietnamese)
- Fresh orange zest (See How to Zest a Lemon)
- Baking powder
- Sea salt
- Flour, all purpose
- Miniature chocolate chips (you can chop a chocolate bar instead)
- Salted, chopped pistachios
See Recipe Card for Ingredient Amounts
Tools Needed
Large mixing bowl
Electric mixer or sturdy spatula
Microplane (for zesting orange)
A cutting board and sharp knife or food processor
Be sure to break eggs one at a time in a separate cup or bowl before adding to the mixture to be sure eggs are fresh. (You don't want to add a bad egg to a bowl of ingredients).
Storage & Make Ahead Tips
You can freeze cookie dough for 3 months.
Just be sure to wrap in Saran Wrap or wax paper then tuck inside a freezer safe container.
Also helpful if you’re making drop cookies such as these Italian cookies, scoop out dough and freeze as balls.
PIN FOR LATER
Cakey Cookie Recipes
If you're fond of cake-like cookies, you'll also like Orange Cookies with Orange Icing, Mexican Wedding Cookies and Kentucky Butter Cookies.
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Recipe
Cannoli Cookies
Cannoli cookies are filled with the wonderful cinnamon, orange and pistachio flavor of your favorite crunchy, cream filled pastry from your best Italian bakery. Only easier.
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, room temperature (link)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ¼ cup ricotta cheese (drained)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
- ½ teaspoon baking powder (check freshness)
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
- 1.5 cups flour, all purpose
- 5 ounces miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup salted pistachios, chopped
Instructions
In a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and lighter in color, about three minutes.
Add egg and ricotta, mix until incorporated, about two minutes.
Add cinnamon, vanilla extract and orange zest. Stir to combine.
Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Be careful not to overmix here. If using hand mixer, stop once no white streaks remain. Overbeating leads to tough cookies.
Stir in chocolate chips and chopped pistachios until mixed through dough.
Chill dough at least an hour.
To bake:
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Portion cookie dough using a #40 scoop or a spoon.
Bake 12 balls of dough at a time for 9 to 11 minutes. Smaller balls of dough may take less time. Pay attention to how the cookies smell. If they smell done, they probably are.
Cookies will be lightly golden around edges and on the bottoms.
Let cool on cookie sheet for five minutes then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Garnish idea: you can sprinkle powder sugar over the top for a garnish or melt a bit of chocolate in a small resealable plastic bag then snip off one tip to drizzle lines over the cookies.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 24 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 128Total Fat 7gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 19mgSodium 93mgCarbohydrates 15gFiber 1gSugar 8gProtein 2g
Cookie Baking Advice
You may find these baking posts helpful, from How to Freeze Cookie Dough, Room Temperature Butter for Baking to Salted or Unsalted Butter for Cookies? to Do I Need A Cookie Scoop?, Cookie Size Chart to What Should a Beginner Bake? to Where Can I Buy Sprinkles?, Why is my sugar cookie dough too sticky? and Cookie Holidays. What is Sanding Sugar and Where Can I Buy Sprinkles might also be helpful.
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