My husband absolutely loves cannolis! I thought about making cannolis for the holidays this year but I was planning on making creme brulee and was looking for just a small, easy to make an addition to the creme brulee so I opted to make my own variation of filled strawberries. I took some tips from a fabulous recipe I found online at Jersey Girl Cooks.

I loved the idea of sectioning the top of the strawberry versus other similar recipes that remove a big chunk of the strawberry off the top to make room for the filling! While I did use the same technique for filling the strawberries, I modified the cream filling pretty significantly.

My version of the recipe combines the creaminess of cream cheese with the traditional ricotta cheese but also adds in the fluffy texture of whipped cream. Combine all of those delicious flavors and sprinkle a little cinnamon and chocolate on top...and voila! You have the perfect combination of the rich, yet light filling combined with the freshness of strawberries. Could there be a better pairing?

Tips for making Cannoli Cream Filled Strawberries:

1.Be sure that you let the cream cheese get to room temperature before using. I cannot stress this enough! If your cream cheese is still cold you will end up with a VERY lumpy filling. It will be nearly impossible to smooth it out....talking from experience lol.

2.You can make the filling ahead of time but I would highly discourage you from cutting and filling the strawberries until just before you are ready to serve them. Strawberries have a lot of juice in them and as soon as you cut them they will start to let their juices out and you will have a less than great presentation.

3.Use the filling for other things. It is that good! Dip cookies into it. Fill cakes with it. Frost cupcakes with it. All I can say is YUM!

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Ingredients for making Cannoli Cream Filled Strawberries:

Cannoli Cream 8 Servings
16-32 ounces of fresh strawberries
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips- for sprinkling on top
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon- for sprinkling on top

How to make Cannoli Cream Filled Strawberries:

1.Make Cannoli Cream.

2.Fill a piping bag with the filling mixture.

3.Remove the stems from the strawberries and cut the strawberries from the top into an "X" shape. Do not cut strawberries all the way through. They should all still be connected but easily separated at the top to fill with the cream.

4.Carefully pull the top of the strawberry apart just enough to get the piping tip into the base of the strawberry and pipe the cream into the strawberry.

5.Sprinkle a little cinnamon and mini chocolate chips on the top of each strawberry. Enjoy!