Sweet Cannoli Fruit Dip

 Looking for something to do with that homemade ricotta?

Who am I kidding? None of you have made any ricotta since Monday. (If you have, I salute you and we are destined to be BFFs.) I must be the only crazy person with a fridge full of raw milk and an interest in cheese making.

But maybe you have some store-bought ricotta in your fridge that needs to be used?

Time to bust it out, people! We can work with that.

This dip is.. gah. So good.

This is basically a cannoli in a bowl. Tastes exactly the same. Dip anything you want into it- fruit, crackers/cookies/carbs of your choice, heck- spread it on a vegetable and just try not to eat it.

The cute little crackers pictured are actually made with some spent grain from Mr. Nick's homebrewing adventures. They are dark and lovely and perfect vessels for dipping. Grahams or waffle cookies would be lovely, too.

If you'd prefer a smoother dip, keep adding cream until it's as thin as you like. I like it thicker, with an almost cookie-dough-consistency- you could probably roll it up and make it into truffles if you wanted to. Umm, yeah- let's definitely do that.

(I just realized that this looks eerily similar to my white bean cookie dough- there are no beans in this, I promise! And tastes better, if you ask me. Probably because there are no beans in it?)

Put this one on your list.

Sweet Cannoli Fruit Dip
by Oven Love

Ingredients

• 8 oz ricotta cheese (try my homemade recipe here)
• 4 oz mascarpone cheese (you can sub cream cheese if you need to)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• zest of 1/2 an orange, plus more zest for topping
• 2-4 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips, plus more for topping
• sliced fruit, crackers, etc for dipping

Directions

1. In a stand mixer, combine ricotta and mascarpone cheeses and blend until smooth. Add honey, cinnamon, vanilla, orange zest and 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream and mix to combine. If the dip is still too stiff, add more cream 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Scoop into a bowl and serve.
2. If you have any leftovers, store in the fridge- it should keep for a week or so.