Air Fryer Cannoli — Cannolis is a traditional Italian pastry typically deep-fried. While delicious, this process leaves you with a greasy and heavy treat, which can be difficult to enjoy at times. Luckily for all cannoli lovers out there, the air fryer has come to our rescue!
Air Fryer Cannoli is a fantastic air fryer dessert, and the air fryer perfectly cooks up the cannoli shell, and the creamy filling makes this delicious!
Being from an Italian family has its drawbacks: most meals end with a pastry. I guess there could be worse things. But my favorite and one of the most common Italian Pastries is the Cannoli.
If you are not familiar with dessert cannoli, I hope you treat yourself soon. It’s a hard pastry shell filled with a creamy, rich ricotta filling. Truly amazing. And today, I used mini chocolate chips and crushed pistachios for an even better taste.
If you are looking for some other great and easy Air Fryer Dessert Recipes, some of my favorites are AIR FRYER CINNAMON STICKY BUNS, AIR FRYER CINNAMON CHURRO BITES, and AIR FRYER BEST CHERRY TURNOVERS.
Why Make Cannolis In The Air Fryer?
Cannolis is a delicious Italian dessert usually made with ricotta cheese and chocolate chips. The pastry shell can be fried or baked, but it must be crisp to hold the filling. With the air fryer, the cannoli shells crisp up perfectly!
You are creating the perfect Air Fryer Cannoli Recipe you have ever made! They are so good!
There are many variations of cannoli recipes out there, but this one is an easy recipe for beginners!
How To Make The Cannoli Shell in The Air Fryer
This cannoli shell is straightforward to make, and the air fryer does a fantastic job at crisping up the shell to absolute perfection.
Most traditional cannolis shells are tubed shape, so to copy that, I purchased a simple cannoli mold on Amazon (affiliate link)
Ingredients Needed For Air Fryer Cannoli
- All-Purpose Flour
- Granulated Sugar
- Sea Salt
- Butter
- Egg Yolk
- Dry White Wine
Cannoli Filling:
A mixture makes the traditional cannoli filling of ricotta cheese, a strained cheese, or whey. It’s thicker than regular cheese.
Ingredients For The Cannoli Filling:
- Ricotta Cheese
- Powdered Sugar
- Ground Cinnamon
- Heavy Whipping Cream
How To Make Air Fryer Cannoli
Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside. Add the cold butter and cut it in with a pastry cutter to form coarse crumbs. You can also use a fork, two butter knives, or your hands for this. Stir in the egg yolk and wine until combined; dough crumbly.
Place the dough on a lightly floured, clean work surface and press/knead it into a dough ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator while you make the filling.
In a large bowl, stir together the ricotta, powdered sugar, and ground cinnamon until combined, set aside.
Place the whipping cream in a large bowl, and with a hand mixer, mix until stiff peaks form about two minutes. Gently fold the whipped cream into the ricotta mixture and place this into the refrigerator until you assemble your Cannoli.
If your air fryer requires preheating, preheat it to 400 degrees F, air fryer setting. Take the dough and cut it into 4ths, take one fourth and place it on a lightly floured, clean work surface. Place the remaining dough back into the refrigerator.
Can you use an air fryer for cannoli shells?
Roll out the dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut out 4-inch circles; depending on how thin you rolled out the dough, you can get 4-5 circles.
Spray the cannoli forms with cooking spray, wrap the dough around the form, and secure the edges where it meets with a small amount of water. Just dip your fingertip into the water. That’s enough. Press down gently to seal. Repeat with the remaining circles of dough you are working with.
Spray the inside of your air fryer basket. Spray the outside of the dough. Air fry for 4 to 6 minutes until golden brown. Using tongs, remove the shells and take the shells off the cannoli forms. Caution they are extremely hot.
Repeat with the remaining shells. If you reuse the cannoli forms, let them cool completely between batches. Let the shells cool completely. Once cooled, pipe the filling into the shells. Dip the ends into chocolate chips or pistachios. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If you can, pipe the Cannoli to serve instead of assembling them and letting them sit. This will help keep the shells crisp.
FAQ’s:
What If I do not have A Cannoli Form?
Suppose you do not have one. Use aluminum foil as a substitute.
To make them, roll the piece of aluminum foil into a long tube and then fold over. So it’s firm enough for you to wrap the dough around. It would be best to make the foil tube thick enough and solid enough to wrap the dough around without the foil being crushed.
How To Store Cannoli?
Suppose you want to keep them at their fresh. You can store the shells separate from the filling and assemble them as you serve them. This way, the body will remain crisp.
If you have empty shells that you want to keep crips, place them in an airtight container, and they will stay crisp for about a week.
If you want to prepare the cannoli filling ahead of time, the packing will stay good for about 2 to 3 days.
But if you have already filled the Cannoli, place them into an airtight container and put them in the refrigerator. They will keep about 1 to 2 days.
Ways to Dress Them Up
If you go to the North End in Boston, there is a wide variety of choices. Today, I used mini chocolate chips and crushed pistachios, but the possibilities are endless. Here are some of my favorites:
- Add unsweetened cocoa powder to make chocolate ricotta cheese. An amazing filling, especially if you are making these for someone who adores chocolate.
- Sliced Almonds
- Dip the cannoli shell into melted chocolate for a great treat.
- Dust them with powdered sugar. This is a perfect treat and looks amazing on the dessert table.
More Air Fryer Dessert Recipes:
- AIR FRYER BLUEBERRY PINWHEELS
- AIR FRYER CHERRY CHEESECAKE TACOS
- EASY AIR FRYER FRUIT TART
- AIR FRYER ITALIAN BISCOTTI
- AIR FRYER STRAWBERRY SCONES
Some Helpful Products Used In Making Air Fryer Cannolis
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. At no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
- Cannoli Tubes Molds Stainless Steel Non-stick Cream Horn Danish Pastry Molds for Croissant Shell Cream Roll
- Philips Kitchen Appliances Digital Twin TurboStar Airfryer XXL, with Fat Removal Technology, 3 Lbs, Black, HD9650/96
Don’t Forget To Pin
Who wouldn't love Cannoli? A crispy and delicious shell filled with a creamy, sweet filling. But they can be quite time consuming to make. That's where your air fryer comes in! You can make amazing cannoli right at home in your air fryer. And it only takes a few minutes! So give this recipe a try and enjoy some incredible air fryer cannoli today.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 2 tablespoons butter cold, cut into small cubes
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup cold water
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup crushed pistachios
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar for dusting
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In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt set aside. Add the cold butter and cut it in with a pastry cutter until it forms coarse crumbs. You can also use a fork, 2 butter knives, or your hands for this. Stir in the egg yolk and wine until combined. The dough will be crumbly.
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Place the dough on a lightly floured, clean work surface and press/knead it into a dough ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge while you make the filling.
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In a large bowl, stir together the ricotta, powdered sugar, and cinnamon until combined, set aside.
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Place the whipping cream in a large bowl, and with a hand mixer, mix until stiff peaks form about 2 minutes. Gently fold the whipped cream into the ricotta mixture, place this is in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the cannolis.
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If your air fryer requires preheating, preheat it now to 400°F. Take the dough and cut it into 4ths, take one fourth and place it on a lightly floured, clean work surface. Place the remaining dough back in the fridge.
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Roll out the dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut out 4-inch circles; depending on how thin you rolled out the dough, you can get 4-5 circles.
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Spray cannoli forms with cooking spray, wrap the dough around the form, and secure the edge where it meets with a small amount of water. Just dip your fingertip in the water. That’s enough. Press down gently to seal. Repeat with the remaining circles of dough you are working with.
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Spray the inside of the air fryer basket. Spray the outsides of the dough. Air fry for 4-6 minutes until golden brown. Using tongs, remove the shells and take the shells off of the cannoli forms. Caution, this is very hot!
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Repeat with the remaining shells. If you have to reuse the cannoli forms, let them cool completely between batches. Let the shells cool completely. Once cool, pipe the filling into the shells. Dip the ends in the chocolate chips or pistachios. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. Store in an air-tight containerin the fridge. If you can, pipe the cannolis to serve instead of assembling them all and letting them sit. This will help keep the shells crisp.
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Plate, serve, and enjoy!
These absolutely look delicious as well as so pretty good to view!
Truly Amazing!