YWPWT: Holy Cannoli!!

Helloooooooo USA!! It's good to be back in the good ol' country of pie plates and readily available baking ingredients. And what better way to celebrate my homecoming than with September's entry for You Want Pies With That! This month's theme comes from my dear friend and genius cook at Piccante Dolce. Vacation Pie. This one's super easy and fun, just bake a pie that is "inspired by a vacation you have taken or hope to take."

Uh, did someone say vacation? Because the last vacation I took was in Florence, Italy. Yep, you heard me. And you can read all about the best meal I've ever had in my life here. I had the most amazing time in Florence. I saw The David and illegally took a non-flash photo of it (what? everyone else was too) I strolled the bridges in the glow of dusk, I nearly killed myself on a 26 mile bike ride that was supposed to be a "leisurely" tour of the Chianti region, and I accidentally bought a leather jacket. I also got asked out by several Italian men from age 16 to age 60 and got proposed to twice. Don't you just love it ;)

So Italy in general is known for amazing food, classically beautiful marriages of flavors, and nothing but the most outrageous desserts. I swear I ate gelati every single day I was there. Okay, maybe twice a day. Hey, I was on vacation. I struggled for a bit when I had to come up with just one Italian dessert to inspire my pie, but then I took a breather. I cleared my head. "What is the first dessert that comes to your mind?" Cannoli. Cannoli. Without a doubt. Now granted because of my wonderful allergic self I didn't eat any cannolis while I was in Italy; however, I did look at them and they were beautiful. The best cannoli I've ever had in the US is located at Mike's Pastries in Boston, which I highly recommend to any person with a stomach.

I baked a cannoli inspired pie using a simple sugar cookie crust dusted with cinnamon to mimic the shell of the yummy tubular treat and filled it with a unique ricotta mixture, all topped off with some delicious allergen free chocolate chips from the company Enjoy Life (one of my favorite allergy free companies; so darn good!) I think this will have to be a repeat in my kitchen sometime soon.

Cannoli Pie

Ingredients:
GF cookie dough, either homemade or store bought (flavor of your choosing)
15 oz part-skim ricotta cheese
1 envelope of unflavored gelatin
1 cup of powdered sugar, divided
1 cup of boiling water
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of allergy-free (or regular) chocolate chips
cinnamon

Directions:

Crust:
Prepare cookie dough according to directions or recipe and spread in a pie plate.
Bake as directed.
Dust with cinnamon and set aside to cool.

Filling:
Combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar and one envelope of gelatin, mixing well.
Add 1 cup of boiling water and mix until the sugar and gelatin dissolve; set aside.
In another bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, the remaining powdered sugar, and the vanilla.
Slowly pour the gelatin mixture over the cheese mixture and combine.
Pour the filling into the cookie dough crust and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the pie making it just like a chocolate chip cannoli!


Let's be frank. This recipe is really, really easy and really, really good. I used the gelatin to help the ricotta stand up. With the help of the gelatin, it's able to be sliced as a pie without having to add eggs (and calories) and without baking the filling. It's a nice icebox pie for the hot end of summer days and it makes me want to go right back on vacation.

Yum, a cannoli and a pie. Now if they could only move Italy a little closer to California...
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