Beautifully green, light, and fluffy pistachio cupcakes topped with a creamy cannoli frosting flavored with orange and lemon zest and micro chocolate chips! Cannoli cupcakes are always a crowd pleaser; add them to your list of favorite cupcakes.

Let’s discuss cannolis, guys. Cannolis are my absolute favorite dessert. I’m fortunate to have a terrific bakery down the street that produces excellent chocolate chip cannolis, as well as the renowned Mikes Pastry in Boston’s North End that I can swing by (and wait in an enormous line for) throughout the work day.

I say fortunate, but what I actually mean is screwed since I’m on a diet and cannolis are not diet-friendly.

However, they are conveniently available, and I don’t have to cook them at home. The only reason I don’t make them myself is because I have to deal with a pot of molten hot oil that will undoubtedly end up all over the countertops, the microwave, my arms, the cats, and that fox in the yard.

I’m afraid of hot oil, which usually makes things worse because I’m too cautious and drop the shells in for too long, or the oil is uneven, or whatever. It’s just terrible news, bears.

Thus, because of the oil, my arms, and that fox, I prefer to leave cannolis to the professionals. Me? Instead, I prefer to create cannoli cupcakes. Not just cannoli cupcakes, however. On top of light, fluffy, precisely green pistachio cupcakes, chocolate chip cannoli icing with undertones of lemon and orange zest.

I’ve never been a big fan of crushed pistachios on cannolis, but I really like the cannoli filling on top of pistachio-flavored cupcakes with some chopped pistachios on top.

Don’t attempt to cut them yourself with a knife; it’ll drive you insane. Put them in your food processor and pulse a few times to combine. These are the times when I’m perfectly OK with robots taking control.

I don’t claim to comprehend myself.

I even found myself smashing more pistachios and sprinkling them on top of the icing as a garnish. Well, I attempt to do everything carefully and delicately, as seen in the above picture, but I end up tossing toppings at the cupcakes to glue them to the edge, which makes me appear like I’m in a one-sided food war.

It was struck from the left, and it was hit hard:

You should see what’s going on in my kitchen. I haven’t done any Facebook Live recordings of myself preparing a dish since I’m a hot mess.

The cupcakes are light, but don’t worry about them being unable to sustain a tower of icing; they form an excellent foundation for it. High quality cake flour is one of the important factors in making this happen.

I exclusively use King Arthur Flour cake flour, which I highly suggest. Side note: they have no clue who I am; I am just a devoted admirer.

The frosting is light and easy to pipe, so it would look lovely on a cake (and I may or may not be doing that soon).

I hope you like these as much as I do.