Maple Pumpkin Cannoli Dip

Please tell me you’ve had a cannoli before.

How can you go wrong with rich, sweet ricotta cream stuffed into a crispy pastry shell and covered in chocolate chips (or pistachios or melted chocolate or crushed cookies)?

Well, other than eating about half of your calorie needs for one day… not to mention more than your daily “allowance” of saturated fat and refined sugars.

Yep, those Italian bakery favorites are fat, sugar, and calorie bombs! Including the two years we lived right in the city of Boston, I’ve only stopped off for a cannoli in the North End once.

I definitely consider such an incredibly decadent treat a once-in-a-very-long-while indulgence, but man was that peanut butter cannoli worth it!

The good news is that you can experiment at home and come up with a much healthier adaptation of the original, which is precisely what I’ve done with this dip.

Sweet part-skim ricotta, creamy Greek yogurt, earthy pumpkin puree, robust maple syrup, and a slew of pumpkin pie spices are whipped together and topped with white chocolate chips to create a dessert-y dip that is reminiscent of cannoli filling.

The dip itself is not overly sweet, so I suggest serving a sugary accompaniment alongside. I opted for cinnamon & sugar pita chips, which are not only sweet but also super crunchy just like deep-fried cannoli shells.

If you want to be even more health-conscious with this snack/dessert, serve the dip with crisp apple slices!

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