Chocolate Covered Cannoli Stuffed Strawberries

Chocolate Covered Cannoli Stuffed Strawberries....

Yes you read that correctly, and yes it is just as drool-worthy as it sounds. A couple of weeks ago on vacation a woman I met said she had these as the favor for her wedding and now she makes them herself when she wants to bring something to a gathering. She said they were a big hit - hello?? How could they not be?! It's like saying the sky is blue. Chocolate covered strawberries are delicious enough, but to add cannoli cream inside them, now we're talking down right drool-worthy.

And I haven't even told you the best part.....they are so easy to make, slightly time consuming but very easy. Now here is my slight disclaimer, I bought cannoli cream from an Italian supermarket, had I made the cannoli cream it would have been slightly more challenging but not by much. I had a ton of running around to do the day before Father's Day and I just didn't have the time and to be honest I haven't found a homemade cannoli cream recipe that I love (if anyone has one, I would love a suggestion!). As another bonus it was actually a bit more economical to buy the premade cannoli cream, which is always a plus.




I bought two pints of strawberries since I wanted enough to bring to my parent's house for Father's Day and my in-laws as well. After the official "sampling" by my husband and myself we ended up with 50 strawberries! They were, as expected, a huge hit, our two year old niece fancied the cannoli cream a bit more than anything else and took to using a spoon to just eat the cream out of the strawberries at one point. My final word on this recipe, everyone loved them, you will too and everyone will love you for making them.

Chocolate Covered Cannoli Stuffed Strawberries
Yield: approximately 4 dozen strawberries
Prep Time: 20 minutes     I     Assembly Time: 45 minutes


Ingredients:

• 2 pints of strawberries
• 1 pound of cannoli cream (homemade or store bought)
• 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Start off by washing the strawberries and laying them on a paper towel and blotting gently to dry them. First you will need to slice the tops off of all the strawberries. Try to take off as little as possible, cutting as close to the green top as you can.

When all the tops have been removed you will need to scoop a little of the inside of the strawberries out. I used a serrated knife to do this and started by inserting the knife in the little white circle of the strawberry. When you look at a strawberry from the top you should see a ring of red around the outer part, then a white circle. I cut out the white circle that way you weren't cutting out too much of the strawberry and this will also keep you cutting away from the edges so you dont cut into the sides or split any strawberries open. You will only need to take a small chunk of the center out so dont cut too deep or you risk cutting into the bottom.

This part is a little tedious at first, but once I got into the swing of it, the rest were a breeze.

When all of the strawberries are done you will need to prepare to fill them. I wanted to use a piping bag and flower tip to fill them, but I had bought the kind of cannoli cream with mini chocolate chips inside which would not fit through any of my tips. So even though it looked pretty, after a while I gave up and filled them with a small spoon. Either way is fine, do whichever you prefer, they are both equally easy to do.

The last step involves chocolate coating the strawberries. My husband was hoping I was going to dip the entire strawberry so the cannoli cream filling would be a "surprise". While that would be nice I pointed out that in all likelyhood the hot chocolate would melt the cream filling and make everything a runny mess. He conceded and I ended up dipping the bottom half of the strawberries as I had originally intended. I do give him credit for creativity. His idea would probably work if I threw the filled strawberries in the freezer first, it's a thought and I may just give it a whirl in the future.

I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but really you can use any type of chocolate you prefer best. Melt the chocolate down in a double boiler and when it's nice and shiny you can start dipping. If the chocolate looks tough or like it's seizing you can add a little canola oil, cream or milk to loosen it up and smooth it out. If you do this, add very little at a time! Only a little is needed to do the trick.

Lay the dipped strawberries on greased wax paper, put in the fridge to harden and voila you have a delicious dessert.

Just one more photo for good measure.....