Cannoli Dip

If you love Italian Cannolis, you are going to love this dessert dip.  This is a big bowl of cannoli filling served with your favorite dippers on the side.  Personally, I just love to break up store bought cannoli shells and serve them on the side.  (I happen to live near a great Italian store/bakery/deli that sells just the shells so you can make the filling yourself and stuff them.)  But this creamy, sweet cheese dip is also perfect with sliced apples, pears and whole strawberries.  Plain cookies and pretzel sticks are also great dippers

I’ve taken to serving this in individual serving cups with dippers on the side.  That makes this a great plated dessert that is perfect after a delicious Italian meal. You can also put the dip in a pretty bowl with the dippers around the bowl for family style serving.

You can also swap out mini chocolate chips for the nuts or even mix in a quarter cup of chips into the dip AND sprinkle with nuts (over the top yummy!)

A couple of notes on “lightening this up”.  Use low fat ricotta and Swerve confectioner’s sugar as swaps in this recipe and you’ll cut a ton of calories, sugar and saturated fat.  Serve with just the fresh fruit and you’ve immediately lightened up the whole dish.  No matter how you prepare this (I’ve done it both ways), it is good!

If you like this dessert try it after some of my favorite Italian meals like my Crispy Eggplant Parmesan Slices or my Zucchini Lasagne Roll Ups.  This dessert would also be perfect with my Chicken Parmesan dinner.

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