Brownies (From Scratch) With Cannoli Filling

A few years ago, I started making homemade cannoli.

It's something I should have done (along with the Feast of Seven Fishes) while my dad was still alive, being that he’s our source of Italian heritage, but didn't.

He always talked about the Feast when we were growing up, but because we traveled to see family and friends on Christmas Eve, we never did it.

And he just loved a good cannoli.

Stainless steel cannoli forms, cookie cutters and filling

I do not remember where I got this cannoli and filling recipe, but if it belongs to anyone, I'd be happy to cite!

We've fried the cannoli shells in various oils, baked them to avoid those oils, and this year used coconut oil for frying which worked out great.

Cannoli shells fried in coconut oil

I always have leftover filling which usually gets eaten with any broken shells or just by itself because it's so good.  But I wanted to make something with it this year.

Cannoli filling ingredients before mixing

My grandmother's cookbooks have multiple recipes for brownies, so I used this for southern fudge brownies.

There was one substitute: instead of pecans, I added leftover cannoli filling.

Once the batter was in the pan, I put spoonfuls of the filling into the brownie mix and with a butter knife, swirled it through the batter.

I baked for longer than the recipe called for, about 38 minutes instead of 25.

And they turned out delicious!

Baked brownies from scratch with cannoli filling