I go through food phases.  It tends to happen when I find something that’s absolutely delicious and then I can’t seem to get enough.  Like many people in the fall, I’m all about the pumpkin spice and caramel apple flavors.  I’m pretty sure I’ve sampled every pumpkin spice flavored item on the shelves – with the exception of Pringles.  Do people seriously eat that stuff?  It’s almost as bad as a cappuccino inspired potato chip.  No, thank you.  I will save my potato chips for flavors that involve bacon and cheese.  And garlic.  Lots and lots of garlic.  But, I digress.

Another flavor that reminds me of the cooler temperatures is cinnamon.  So, now that the cooler temperatures have resumed (what was that?  Like 3 weeks of summer?) I finally purchased Stacy’s cinnamon sugar pita chips.  The only problem?  Chips of any sort, in my opinion, require a dip.  This is where searching came into play, because I can not handle those fake bean-dessert dips.  The ones with chickpeas.  How can you not taste the bean?!  I feel lied to every time I see a “healthy” dessert dip that involves chickpeas promising me it tastes just like the real thing.  Apparently your taste buds are dead because I don’t remember the last time my chocolate chip cookies tasted like beans.

I thought of pumpkin flavored dips and apple flavored dips (both of which I imagine are superb), but I wanted something a little different.  I remembered a small pizza joint down the road from where Mr. LL and I use to live in North Carolina, and memories of cannoli flooded my mind when I took the first bite of one of those pita chips.  It was perfect. And I knew just whose recipe I was going to follow.  I’ve been a fan of Jaclyn over at Cooking Classy for a while now, especially since she has the most drool-worthy photos. I followed her recipe exactly, and I’m so glad I did – because it was amazing.  The only problem?  It made tons!  I actually had to package up 3/4 of it to give to a co-worker or else I would have ate it all within one sitting.

Cannoli Dip

{recipe from Cooking Classy website}

• 15 oz. ricotta cheese, strained
• 8 oz. Mascarpone cheese
• 2/3 c powdered sugar
• 1 c heavy cream
• 1/2 c mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and Mascarpone cheeses.  Fold in powdered sugar.  In a separate mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks. Begin by folding half of the cream with the cheese mixture.  Repeat with remaining whipped cream.  Slowly fold in chocolate chips, reserving a tablespoon for garnishing.