How to Make Low-Carb Cannoli

4.1 stars, average of 76 ratings

By Naomi Sherman, updated March 30 202015
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These low-carb cannoli nearly got the better of me. I tried and failed to create light and crispy cannoli shells and was just about ready to give up when Martina suggested using her recipe for keto sugar cones and adapting it.

Ta da!!!! It worked! Perfect crispy, crunchy tubes ready to be filled with luscious ricotta filling. And they are 100% keto!

I highly recommend buying a cone maker, they’re inexpensive and don’t take up a lot of room. And, you can make waffle cones. Enjoy!

0 days, 0 hours, 10 minutes

Hands-on 1 hour Overall 1 hour 10 minutes

Serving size 1 cannolo

Allergy information for How to Make Low-Carb Cannoli

✔ Gluten free

✔ Nightshade free

✔ Pork free

✔ Avocado free

✔ Fish free

✔ Shellfish free

Pescatarian

Vegetarian

Nutritional values (per 1 cannolo)

Net carbs3.1 grams

Protein7 grams

Fat15.5 grams

Calories180 kcal

Calories from carbs 7%, protein 16%, fat 77%

Total carbs4.3 gramsFiber1.1 gramsSugars1.3 gramsSaturated fat8.3 gramsSodium61 mg(3% RDA)Magnesium25 mg(6% RDA)Potassium115 mg(6% EMR)

Ingredients (makes 12 cannoli)

Ricotta filling:

2 cups full-fat ricotta cheese (480 g/ 16.9 oz)
³/₄ cup powdered Swerve or Erythritol (120 g/ 4.2 oz) - you can use less to taste
¹/₂ tsp sugar-free vanilla extract
1 tbsp orange zest
¹/₂ tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Place the almond flour, psyllium, vanilla powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
In another bowl, mix the eggs, coconut milk, sweetener and melted ghee.
Add the dry ingredients into the bowl with the eggs and mix well.
Pour the batter, about 2 tablespoons (38 g/ 1.3 oz) per cannoli tube, in the cone maker and close the lid.
Cook for 5 minutes, or until it's lightly browned and cooked through.
Once ready, use a spatula to lift the wafer from the cone maker and roll it around a cannoli tube. You can buy cannoli tubes or use any clean round item that you have around the house.
Let it cool down for 1-2 minutes before sliding the tube out from the centre.
Continue until all of the mixture is used.
Note: This can feel a bit time consuming as you need to cook each tube individually, but it’s worth it. I promise.
Meanwhile, in-between batches mix all of the ricotta ingredients together with a stand mixer and whip until smooth and fluffy.
Pipe ricotta into tubes from either end.
Store in the fridge for up to five days.
You can optionally dust tubes with powdered Swerve to finish.

Cannoli
Step by Step

★★★★★★★★★★

4.1 stars, average of 76 ratings

This amazing cannoli recipe is grain-free and sugar-free. Classic Italian pastries made low-carb!

Hands on1h

Overall1h 10m

Servings12

Calories180 kcal

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Ingredients

²/₃ cup almond flour (67 g/ 2.3 oz)
1 tbsp psyllium powder (8 g/ 0.3 oz)
¹/₂ tsp vanilla powder
pinch of sea salt
¹/₂ cup granulated Swerve or Erythritol (100 g/ 3.5 oz)
¹/₄ cup melted ghee (60 ml/ 2 fl oz)
2 large eggs
¹/₂ cup coconut milk or cream (120 ml/ 4 fl oz)
2 cups full-fat ricotta cheese (480 g/ 16.9 oz)
³/₄ cup powdered Swerve or Erythritol (120 g/ 4.2 oz) - you can use less to taste
¹/₂ tsp sugar-free vanilla extract
1 tbsp orange zest
¹/₂ tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Place the almond flour, psyllium, vanilla powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
In another bowl, mix the eggs, coconut milk, sweetener and melted ghee.
Add the dry ingredients into the bowl with the eggs and mix well.
Pour the batter, about 2 tablespoons (38 g/ 1.3 oz) per cannoli tube, in the cone maker and close the lid.
Cook for 5 minutes, or until it's lightly browned and cooked through.
Once ready, use a spatula to lift the wafer from the cone maker and roll it around a cannoli tube. You can buy cannoli tubes or use any clean round item that you have around the house.
Let it cool down for 1-2 minutes before sliding the tube out from the centre.
Continue until all of the mixture is used.
Note: This can feel a bit time consuming as you need to cook each tube individually, but it’s worth it. I promise.
Meanwhile, in-between batches mix all of the ricotta ingredients together with a stand mixer and whip until smooth and fluffy.
Pipe ricotta into tubes from either end.
Store in the fridge for up to five days.
You can optionally dust tubes with powdered Swerve to finish.

Nutrition (per serving, 1 cannolo)

Calories180kcal

Net Carbs3.1g

Carbohydrates4.3g

Protein7g

Fat15.5g

Saturated Fat8.3g

Fiber1.1g

Sugar1.3g

Sodium61mg

Magnesium25mg

Potassium115mg

Detailed nutritional breakdown (per 1 cannolo)

Net carbs	Protein	Fat	Calories
Total per 1 cannolo
3.1 g	7 g	15.5 g	180 kcal
Almond flour (blanched ground almonds, almond meal)
0.5 g	1.2 g	2.9 g	33 kcal
Psyllium husk powder
0.1 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Vanilla powder, dried (from vanilla beans, vanilla pods)
0 g	0 g	0 g	1 kcal
Salt, sea salt
0 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Swerve, natural sweetener (Erythritol and chicory inulin based)
0.4 g	0 g	0 g	2 kcal
Ghee
0 g	0 g	4.6 g	42 kcal
Egg, whole, fresh, raw (free-range or organic eggs)
0.1 g	1 g	0.8 g	12 kcal
Coconut milk (full-fat, unsweetened)
0.3 g	0.2 g	2 g	19 kcal
Ricotta cheese, full-fat
1.2 g	4.5 g	5.2 g	70 kcal
Swerve, natural sweetener (Erythritol and chicory inulin based)
0.5 g	0 g	0 g	2 kcal
Vanilla extract, sugar-free, alcohol-based
0 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Orange peel (zest), fresh
0.1 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Cinnamon, spices
0 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal

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Karen 5 years ago # Reply

My cannoli are coming out so thin that they are falling apart and I can't get them rolled. Is there a secret to this? Mine are not solid, but have lots of open areas.

Martina @ KetoDiet 4 years ago # Reply

I'm sorry to hear that Karen! It's the same dough as this one: Low-Carb Ice Cream Sugar Cones (which is the first one I made) and there were no holes but I can see that Naomi's cannoli have a few holes that get "closed" by rolling the cannoli dough up.
The cooked dough will be soft at first but will solidify as you roll it up. Just make sure it's cooked enough (not too soft as they won't crisp up and not too hard, just about when it starts to caramelise, then it's ready).
Did you use the same sweeteners? Some sweeteners like xylitol would make the dough soft. You will need erythritol-based sweetener.
I'm just thinking whether this could be the wafer maker that is pressing too hard on the dough? Maybe not closing it completely (lightly holding the lid for the first 5 seconds) would help so there are no holes and the dough is slightly thicker?

austin 5 years ago # Reply

hi, is the ingredient correct only 1.1 oz of ricotta cheese?
thanks

Martina @ KetoDiet 5 years ago # Reply

Well spotted! 2 cups full-fat ricotta cheese (480 g) is correct, just the 1.1 refers to pounds, fixed 😊

Muskaan @thetwincookingproject (http://thetwincookingproject.net/) 5 years ago # Reply

These look so eye pleasing. Would love to try them really soon 😊

Claudia 5 years ago # Reply

I have enjoyed your blog for a while and did not realise I had brought one of your books until today. I looked at your other books but can not find anywhere that I can see the list of recipes?

Claudia, thank you for buying my book! ❤ There isn't a regular list of recipes in all of my books but there is index at the end of each book. I hope this helps!

Nuria 5 years ago # Reply

M encanta el teu blog i et segueixo per Instagram. Moltes gràcies

Kirsten 5 years ago # Reply

OMG I love cannoli! I've been craving them ever since our Italian holidays. So happy to see this works! The sugar cones are so good I made them last year. What a fantastic idea to use the same recipe for cannoli 😊

Heather Allen 5 years ago # Reply

Would marscapone work?

Mascarpone or even whipped heavy cream will work!

Beth 5 years ago # Reply

Hi there,
I am trying to plan a diet for a family member with epilepsy. I noticed your recipes use the carb count for RAW ingredients rather than cooked. This tends to give inaccurate/misleading carb counts. When cooked, ingredients can have different carb counts than their raw form, starchy vegetables especially. I think this is really misleading. Hopefully you correct for this in the future! Other than that your blog has been incredibly helpful!

Hi Beth, I assume you mean that I count net carbs (or macros in general) from "raw" ingredients when used? I think you misunderstood how carbs/macros are counted in ingredients because the way I do it is the right way to do it.
So when I use raw ingredients, say "skinless chicken breasts" I need to count macros from raw because that is what I use in the recipe. It's only if I already use cooked chicken (e.g. in a recipe like this one: Keto Curried Chicken Sushi Hand Rolls) that I used macros for "cooked" because the weights (and therefor macros) were per "cooked" chicken. So simply put, the weights/macros are based on what you see listed.

Patricia Garcia 3 years ago # Reply

I think it is you who are confused. Yes, you measur the ingredients raw BUT, as she said, CARB counts(and fat in cases like meat where it may be left in pan) alters because of the cooking process. This is a well-known phenomenon just like yeast using sugar that then doesn't exist in the finished product. Many carbs also will change type when they've been cooked and then refrigerated, another well-known phenomena with potatoes that results in resistant starches(which do not, or only minimally, get digested and thus would affect the usable carbs as well) How is it exactly you think cooking occurs? Metabolism? One is a heatdriven event that chemically changes the composition of a food, and the other is a chemically driven even that both changes the composition AND creates heat(calories) from the process. Cooking does indeed change what is and isn't bioavailable to us at the time of consumption, though I do understand your view- it is not accurate(neither are most nutrition labels for this same reason: they may or may not be measured specifically after cooking, or may be simply taken from the USDA accepted macros for the raw components. I don't believe the difference is enormous in most cases, but for those on very strict keto, like for epilepsy or reactive hypoglycemia, it can make a big difference, particularly if the serving sizes subsequently change. Remember, a packet of Splenda has "0" carbs, but really, it's .9, they just don't have to list if under 1gram, as soon as you use more than 1 packet, the landscape changes significantly. This is just an example, most keto dieters know that Splenda and other packet sweeteners have that same story, but not all packets, nor all dieters.

Martina @ KetoDiet (https://ketodietapp.com/) 3 years ago # Reply

Patricia, in most cases, carb count doesn't alter with cooking. The example with yeast is very isolated and does only apply to recipes that contain yeast (< 5 out of 1,400+ here). And where they do contain yeast I actually don't count the carbs from sugar (explained here: The Best Low-Carb Yeast Bread)
The phenomenon you mentioned has to do with resistant starch and that's again not applicable here and in the vast majority of recipes when you follow the keto diet as there are no potatoes, rice, etc.
Carbs, fat and protein in general - let me explain:
Say you're cooking chicken breasts together with other ingredients and use raw chicken breasts and cook them in a skillet with veg, etc. You have to use macros for raw, not cooked. Using macros for raw doesn't mean that you are eating them raw (they wouldn't be in the food database to start with). As you cook the chicken, some water evaporates from the chicken. If you used the entry for cooked but using the weight of raw chicken (you don't know the weight of cooked yet), then you're essentially be miscalculation your protein intake:
- 100 g (3.5 oz) chicken breast = 22.5 g protein (weight includes more water), will weigh 75-80 g once cooked.
- 100 g (3.5 oz) cooked chicken breast = 29 g protein (you need about 125 g of raw to get 100 g cooked).
This means that is you wrongly use macros for cooked chicken when using raw in a recipe, you will end up with a lot more protein in your macros which you won't be getting in reality. (Correct me here if I'm wrong but I don't think anyone is going to be hand picking cooked chicken pieces from a stir-fry just to weigh them so they can use macros for cooked chicken breasts).
So if you want to use macros per cooked, you need to weigh the ingredient after it's cooked to be able to use values per "cooked". For instance in this recipe: Keto Yum Yum Chicken Slaw and that is because I weigh and use cooked chicken to start with.
Finally, in case of fat, yes there is some wastage in cooking. For example when you roast a whole chicken, you won't be consuming all the fat that is left in the baking tray. But carbs and protein remain unchanged, only the weight of the portion changes. The same 1/4 chicken will contain the same amount of carbs and protein as 1/4 raw chicken, it will just weigh less. In most cases it's not worth trying to figure out how much fat has been wasted during cooking and you'll just be eating less fat than you think/what you track, which in most cases is desirable.

How to Make Low-Carb Cannoli

Hands-on 1 hour Overall 1 hour 10 minutes