Cannoli Ice Cream
This Cannoli Ice Cream has the best flavors of a classic cannoli as a refreshing frozen treat! Just blend up a handful of ingredients, pour into an ice cream maker, and 20 minutes later you have cannoli perfection.
In my early teen years, my best friend and I would about half a mile from her house to a little strip mall that had a bakery. We would buy a cannoli, get snacks and drinks from the convenience store across the street, and then walk a mile back past her house to the Barnegat Bay. We would sit near the shore and enjoy our snacks and savor our cannoli.
I love cannoli cream. I could eat all the cream from all the cannolis and be content. Forget the shells. The cream is the important part. The flavor of ricotta with a hint of cinnamon and a touch of vanilla is scrumptious. With summer coming I’m on an ice cream kick and what better way to enjoy cannoli cream than frozen into a cannoli ice cream!
This easy ice cream recipe is low carb, keto, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.
How To Make Cannoli Ice Cream
Let me start off by saying that this is one of my favorite ice cream recipes because it’s so delicious and creamy. It’s simple to make and will keep you and your hungry family happy to indulge. Let’s get started!
First Step: Put the heavy cream, ricotta cheese, almond milk, sweetener, vanilla, cinnamon, egg yolks, and glycerin in a blender. Mix together until it’s smooth. This may take a few minutes to make the ricotta smooth enough.
Second Step: Put the cannoli ice cream mixture into your ice cream machine and freeze it according to the manufacturer’s directions.
Third Step: Add the chocolate chips when it’s almost done in the ice cream machine or add them on top. Enjoy!
That’s all there is to it! Can you believe how simple it is to make ice cream at home? Now you can have it anytime you want.
Can You Eat Ice Cream On A Keto Diet?
You aren’t able to eat traditional ice cream when you are on a keto diet, but that’s where this cannoli ice cream shines. It’s keto and perfect for giving you something sweet that’s not loaded with sugar and carbs. I am all for that, and it tastes just as good as I remember eating growing up. So if you eat a low carb diet, this is one ice cream recipe you can have with no worries.
Do I Have To Have An Ice Cream Maker To Make This Cannoli Ice Cream Recipe?
Using an ice cream maker saves you lots of time, and you can be enjoying your amazing treat much sooner. It’s not required to use an ice cream maker, but now that I have one, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The flavor and texture with my ice cream machine are incredible, so that’s why it’s my preferred method.
If you don’t want to invest in an ice cream machine, you could blend all the ingredients and put them in a freezer-safe container. Then freeze the container, and every 30 minutes to an hour, you’ll need to stir it. Once it seems to be starting to freeze well, you can spread out your stirring to every hour to an hour and a half. After it’s all the way frozen, it will be ready to eat.
Or you can just pour the ice cream base into an ice pop mold and make cannoli pops!
What’s The Best Way To Store Homemade Ice Cream?
Keeping the ice cream in an airtight freezer-safe container or containers is a must. You can keep it stored in single-serving sized containers or one big one. Either way, homemade ice cream (or any ice cream for that matter) does much better when you store it towards to back of the freezer. If you keep it in the door, it will go bad much sooner because when the door opens, it will defrost a little bit. This will cause ice crystals to form like crazy.
The amount of time it’s going to last is going to vary a fair amount. But typically, it will keep for at least a couple of weeks, if not longer.
Optional Cannoli Ice Cream Toppings
Usually, when we eat a bowl of cannoli ice cream, we will just sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top and start devouring it. However, there are times when some of the family members want something a little extra. Consider some of these ideas next time you are wanting something different.
- Cinnamon – Sprinkle a dash or two of cinnamon on top before serving. It gives it some great color and tastes good too.
- Chocolate sauce – It’s so easy to whip up a batch of this warm and delicious hot fudge sauce. It will make you want to lick the bowl clean too.
- Whipped topping – We love to add just a little bit of homemade whipped cream to the top of our ice cream sometimes. It makes you feel like you are eating it in an ice cream parlor!
- Pistachios – You could really use any kind of nut you like, but pistachios go well with the flavor of the cannoli ice cream.
If you are a fan of this cannoli ice cream, don’t forget to try some of my other keto ice cream recipes too!
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Cannoli Ice Cream
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 1/8 tsp vanilla
- 1/16 tsp cinnamon
- 3 egg yolks use pasteurized if you are concerned with consuming raw eggs
- 1 tsp glycerin optional, but recommended - this keeps the ice cream soft enough to scoop
- sugar free chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.
- Pour into an ice cream machine. Freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- If using chocolate chips you can add them during the last few minutes in the machine or just sprinkle on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally Published April 27, 2016. Revised and Republished April 29, 2020.
I just made this and is great! Didn’t have vanilla extract so I used coconut extract instead and left out the cinnamon, did add sugar free chocolate chips. I used your sweetener blend, but think I will use a little more next time, just not quite sweet enough for my husband.
This recipe is killer! I’ve made it twice now and it’s such a great treat! My only issue is that in the freezer, the ice cream gets rock hard. I tried doubling the glycerin but it didn’t make a difference. Any ideas?
Mine gets pretty hard in the freezer too. The temperature of your freezer can make a difference. If I put it in our deep freezer it’s like a rock. In the door of our upright freezer, it’s more scoopable. What I do is freeze it in single-serve portions and then just microwave for 15-30 seconds. It’s normally perfect after that. You can just let it sit out to temper but I’m not normally that patient.
Great idea! Thank you.
best ice cream I’ve tried and I’ve went thru ALOT!! Winner winner chicken dinner on this one! Soooo good!
Really enjoyed this. The texture is a little powdery/grainy, from the ricotta I assume, but it didn’t bother me. Perhaps I didn’t get it smooth enough. I’m no cook at all but I find keto things easy to make and enjoyable. I bought some glycerin and will use it next time. Thanks
This recipe sounds decadent! I’d love to try it but don’t have an ice cream maker. Is there another way to make it without an ice cream maker?
No, sorry. You can freeze the base into ice cream bars though.
Made this last night with a little extra ricotta and extra vanilla and cinnamon extract. This is simply the best ice cream if Ive ever had in my life!!!! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!!!!I have been missing ice cream so much doing the keto diet for years!!!
Can you use whole milk instead of the almond milk?
Yes, but it will increase the carbs.
I just made this today, and let me tell you, this is some delicious ice cream! I discovered that the container I thought was heavy whipping cream was half and half, but decided to go ahead and make it, knowing the carb count will be a little higher per serving, and I am so glad I did. I also didn’t measure anything other than the liquids, and used almost a 1/2 cup of ricotta more than required. I definitely used more cinnamon! My teen daughter just told me it tastes like snickerdoodle ice cream and that I NEED to make it again! Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe that is sure to become a staple in my house.
ps I found some adorable single serving ice cream cups with silicone lids on Amazon that I use to divvy up the ice cream so that I’m not tempted to eat more than I should.