#3590 - Cannoli Muffins

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 box refrigerated pie crusts (softened according to directions)
turbinado sugar
cinnamon
1 bag Nestle's mini chocolate chips
1 - 15oz. container whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup Domino's powdered sugar + extra for sprinkling
2 TBSP white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Use a cheesecloth to drain the ricotta cheese. In a mixer add drained ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, white sugar and vanilla--beat until nice and creamy. Place all of the filling mixture into a Ziploc bag and place it in the refrigerator. Lightly flour your counter. Unroll one pie crust at a time and sprinkle cinnamon and turbinado sugar evenly over the whole pie crust. Use a rolling pin to LIGHTLY press the turbinado sugar and cinnamon into the dough. Use a 3" round cookie cutter to cut out circles of dough. Place the dough circles into greased muffin tins, pressing lightly so they take the shape of the tins. Repeat with all pie crusts. Bake at 425 degrees 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 20 minutes, then remove them from the tins and place them on paper towels until cooled to room temperature. Just before serving, cut off the corner of the filling bag. Squeeze the bag carefully to fill each cooled cup with filling. Sprinkle a few mini chocolate chips over the filling in each cup. Dust the top of all cups with powdered sugar. Optional: if you wish, you can melt the chocolate chips according to bag directions and drizzle the melted chocolate over the ricotta filling instead of just sprinkling the whole chocolate chips over the filling.