Cherry & Chocolate Cannoli Bites

I’ve had this recipe for a while and decided to turn it from a pie into bites. I couldn’t wrap my mind around graham cracker crust if this were to taste like cannolis. I found the original recipe from Food Network here, and the instructions had you cook cherries with sugar, water, and cornstarch. I decided to skip that step and bought Trader Joe’s Amarena Cherries which are already cooked and sweet. I just took the stems off and chopped them and placed about 1/4-1/2 a cherry in each pastry shell. Amarena Cherries are like maraschino cherries but a little fancier - would be great in an Old Fashioned and at Trader Joe’s they’re only $3.99 for a 16 oz jar.

Ingredients

1 oz melted chocolate (I used Baker’s semi-sweet)

Package of pastry shells (I used Private Selection shortbread tartlet shells)

1 cup ricotta

1/2 cup cream cheese

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

Pistachios and dried orange/clementine, chopped, as a garnish

What To Do

Place a little dallop of melted chocolate in each shell.

Add 1/4-1/2 cherry to each shell.

Puree 1 cup ricotta, 1/2 cup each pistachios, cream cheese and confectioners' sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and spread over the cherries.

Top with chopped pistachios and candied orange peel.

Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.