Spicy Buffalo Chicken Cannoli

As a lover of all things Buffalo chicken, I am constantly trying to find new ways to use the flavor combination. You could say that I’m a bit of a Buffalo chicken … freak? But that’s okay. The first step is admitting you have a problem, right?

Well. I might have a big problem now. Buffalo chicken cannoli? One of my favorite things, stuffed inside a fried shell, topped with blue cheese? I cannot take it.

This recipe from TK member Sandy is completely decadent and wonderful and fun. I’m going to tell you all about it, too.

These babies take just a few ingredients: flour tortillas, oil for frying, Buffalo wing sauce, mayo, cooked and cubed chicken, diced celery and blue cheese. Oh, and a little salt and pepper if needed.

Since I didn’t have a thing-a-ma-jig to wrap cannoli, I secured the tortillas with a toothpick. This worked perfectly. After doing that, I began to heat the oil in a large pot.

While the oil is coming to temperature, mix together some mayo and Buffalo wing sauce. You want it to have a little kick!

Once the oil is hot enough, fry the tortillas (just a few at a time) until golden. I found that keeping the toothpick in was fine, just as long as I had enough of it to grab and remove it before filling.

Once each cannoli is done, place on a paper towel to drain and become cool enough to touch.

While the tortillas are cooling, add the chicken and celery to a bowl. Add in the buffalo wing/mayo sauce and mix, mix, mix.

Toss in some crumbled blue cheese. I actually used smoky blue cheese. It is to die for.

Once the tortillas have cooled, use a small spoon and fill each with some of the chicken mixture. A few of the insides may puff up, so simply press down on the bubble gently to make room for the chicken.

Once they are all filled, serve with additional Buffalo wing sauce, blue cheese crumbles and celery.

And to take things over the top, cover each cannoli with a big drizzle of sauce!

Oh, and more blue cheese. Yes. It’s necessary.

These are totally insane in the best way ever. I’ll say it again: I adore all things Buffalo chicken, so it’s safe to say these will make a frequent appearance in my kitchen. They are such a fun twist on two traditional foods and I get giddy just thinking about them. Thanks so much for the recipe Sandy! Be sure to check out her fab blog, Everyday Southwest.

Crunchy flour tortilla cannoli shells stuffed with spicy Buffalo chicken salad.

Cut the flour tortillas into 5-inch circles. Loosely wrap the tortilla around a cannoli shell and secure with a toothpick. Or, if you prefer, fold the tortilla around two of your fingers and secure with toothpick. Overlap the tortilla only as much as you need to secure it with a toothpick leaving a nice wide center to fill with chicken mixture.

Use a frying pan or pot that is large enough to fill with 1 to 1 1/2 inches of oil to fry the tortillas. The pan should still have plenty of room so that the oil will not boil over. Heat the oil to 360ºF or until bubbles form when a scrap of tortilla is place in the oil. Place the tortillas in the hot oil with tongs one at a time. Leave the cannoli mold in the tortilla or use the tongs to keep the shape of a cannoli until the tortilla is cooked enough to hold its own shape then continue with the next tortilla. Only fry up to 4 to 5 at a time.

Fry the tortillas until golden brown and crispy; they will continue to brown a little when removed from the oil. Drain on paper towels. While the tortilla is hot, push down any of the bubbles that my have formed on the inside of the cannoli shell so that the center is open for the filling.

In a mixing bowl, toss together the diced chicken and diced celery.

in a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise and hot wing sauce in a small bowl. Add more hot wing sauce slowly and taste as you go for the desired flavor. The sauce mixture should be hotter than you expect because you will be adding it to the chicken and filling the tortilla with it, which will dilute the flavor of the sauce.

Fold the hot wing sauce mixture into the chicken a little at a time to achieve the desired consistency. Stir in the desired amount of blue cheese crumbles and save the remaining for garnish. Salt and pepper to taste. If you add the blue cheese to the mixture, you may not need salt so be sure to taste.

Fill the cannoli shells with chicken from both ends with a small spoon. Use the end of the spoon to push the filling into the middle of the cannoli.

Serve with hot wing sauce and blue cheese crumbles.

20 whole Flour Tortillas24 ounces, fluid Vegetable Oil For Frying, Or Enough To Fill A Frying Pan 1 Inch Deep2-½ cups Cooked Chicken, Diced1 whole Large Celery Stalk, Finely Diced Or Minced¼ cups Mayonnaise¼ cups Prepared Hot Wing Sauce, More If Desired¼ cups Blue Cheese Crumbles½ teaspoons Salt, If Necessary½ teaspoons Black Pepper, If Necessary.

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Jessica Merchant is a personal trainer turned food writer and blogger. Her blog, How Sweet Eats, is where she proclaims her love for all things sweet, all things bacon, and everything else in between. She works her magic in her Pittsburgh kitchen, which she shares with her husband of 2 years.

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Cannoli Tart

Oh my goodness. You know when you have one of those desserts that completely knocks your socks off? This is it. And it’s simple, too. It’s like the new Holy Grail of treats!

It’s not very often that I get to bake with ricotta because my husband swears that he dislikes it. Even though—of course—he’s eaten it in multiple dishes and I’ve watched him enjoy a full meal where ricotta is involved, but whatever. I can occasionally slip in a tablespoon or so here and there without him noticing, but an entire dessert made from the stuff? This would be tricky.

However, tricky as it was, it actually worked. After seeing this Cannoli Tart from The Seaside Baker, I knew I had to make it immediately. And immediately I did—like nearly one day later. Not only did it pass my sweet tooth test with flying colors, the ricotta-hater loved it too. You know what that means. You must must must try it!

For the crust and the tart filling, all you need is some amaretto, ricotta cheese, eggs, cold butter, flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and chocolate chips. Oh, you also need a little milk. About one tablespoon. This is, like, the easiest dessert ever!

Begin by making the crust. First, give the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon a good whirl in your food processor.

Then add the cold butter and pulse until it forms little crumbs. Can you see the slight difference here from the picture above? There are some pea-sized, flour-coated butter chunks! Yum.

Add the egg and milk, then process until the dough comes together …

… and forms a ball like so. Pretty cool, huh? If there are a few crumbs left, just press them into the dough ball with your hands.

Next, place the dough ball between two sheets of parchment paper. I actually used wax paper because I never seem to have parchment when I need it. Also, stop laughing at my mess of a rolling pin. It lost its arms. I keep meaning to buy a new one but then … I forget.

Use the rolling pin (or something similar, like say, a bottle of wine?) to roll the dough out to fit your tart pan or pie plate. Gently lift it up and place it over the pan.

Press the dough into the pan or plate with your fingers. Clearly, pie-like dough is not one of my strengths. I have many pie crust issues. But this just proves that it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just get it in there, then refrigerate while you make the filling.

For the filling, I simply gave my food processor a quick wipe down since it was already out. All you have to do is add the ricotta, sugar, egg and amaretto and blend until just combined. So creamy.

Then fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour the filling in the tart pan …

… then spread it out evenly and bake for about 35 minutes.

Once you remove the tart, you want it to cool completely. You can place it in the fridge. Trust me, I was skeptical too, but it is totally worth it. I served the tart chilled and holy cow, it was incredible.

After chilling and right before serving, add a drizzle of chocolate and a shake of powdered sugar.

Can you even handle this?

To say this tart far exceeded my expectations would be an understatement. It was out of this world. It isn’t super sweet either, which makes me think it is highly versatile for even those (crazy folks?) who don’t love sweet dishes. You gotta try it.

Thanks so much to The Seaside Baker for the recipe. Be sure to check out her blog for even more tempting and delicious dishes.

A delicious creamy cannoli in tart form.

For the crust:
If using a food processor, add flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon and pulse a few times. Add butter, and pulse until butter and flour have formed pea-sized crumbles. Add egg and milk and pulse until a large ball is formed.

If mixing by hand, in a bowl combine flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Whisk a few times to mix up. Cut in butter until the mixture forms pea-sized crumbles. With your hands, mix in egg and milk and knead into a ball.

Place the dough ball in between 2 pieces of parchment paper. Roll dough out large enough to fit a deep dish pie pan or deep dish tart pan. Grease pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Gently place the dough into pan. Refrigerate while you make your filling and your oven is preheating.

For the filling:
In a food processor or mixer, blend ricotta, egg, sugar, and amaretto until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into crust.

Bake at 350ºF for around 25-35 minutes, or until your crust has slightly browned and the filling has puffed a bit. Serve cold or at room temp sprinkled with powdered sugar or drizzled with chocolate.

FOR THE CRUST:2 cups Sifted Flour½ cups Plus 1 Tablespoon Sugar½ teaspoons Salt1 teaspoon Cinnamon? cups Cold Butter1 whole Egg1 Tablespoon MilkFOR THE FILLING:2-¼ cups Ricotta1 whole Egg2 teaspoons Sugar2 teaspoons Amaretto½ cups Chocolate Chips Or Chunks

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Jessica Merchant is a personal trainer turned food writer and blogger. Her blog, How Sweet Eats, is where she proclaims her love for all things sweet, all things bacon, and everything else in between. She works her magic in her Pittsburgh kitchen, which she shares with her husband of 2 years.

View the original article here