Pizzelles
YUM. I mean, who doesn’t like crispy, waffle-like cookies covered in powdered sugar? C’mon…. Plus, this is my 12th dessert this month, for the 12 days of Christmas. Yay, goals!
I’ve got this little waffle-like iron on the top shelf of my baking cabinet that makes these delicious, crispy little waffle cookies, and I honestly haven’t touched it in years. My grandmother used to make hundreds of these for the holidays and decorate them in all kinds of different ways. And we haven’t made them since she passed, but my mother and uncle both randomly mentioned them this year, so I decided to make some. Plus they're fucking delicious. Like...you'll eat ten before you know what happened.
Traditionally, they’re flavored with anise extract, for that biscotti-like, licorice flavor, but I went another direction to balance our treat flavors out (this is a thing I actually consider?). That’s one of the great things about making these - you can do a lot with the flavor, and I’ll make some suggestions after the photos for different ways you could go here.
PS - you need a pizzelle iron to make these. Mine is ancient - it was my grandmother’s, and the cord is so old that when I plug it in, I actually worry that it’s going to spark. But I won’t stop using it, because the directions inside have her handwriting all over them, and I love seeing that.
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- Zest of one lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 3/4 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
Directions:
Plug in and turn on your pizzelle iron. (Um, duh.)
Combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, and salt into a bowl, and mix well.
Add the flour and baking powder and stir together. It will be very thick.
Pour in the melted butter and fold to combine (the batter will still be pretty thick).
When the pizzelle iron is ready, I like to dip a cloth into a bit of vegetable oil and just rub the plates so the pizzelles don’t stick (most irons are non-stick, but I find you still need the oil.
Spoon just under a tablespoon onto each pizzelle shape in the iron, and close the iron. Mine cook for about a minute and seven seconds (super precise), but it’ll take a few rounds for you to get the amount and time correct. Use your phone to time each round, because you will forget and they burn fast.
Remove the pizzelles from the iron with a plastic spatula and place them somewhere flat to cool - they will harden super fast, so you’ll want to be quick about this. I put them on a cooling rack, and then stack them as they cool. If there's spill over, I'll use kitchen sheers to trim them a bit at the end.
When you’re done, there should be around 3 dozen or so pizzelles. I like to sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top of them to serve, but you could also drizzle some chocolate and sprinkles. We’ve also rolled them up and filled them with different things like cannoli cream, chocolate, etc. - but you have to do that as soon as they come off the iron, otherwise they’l harden too fast.
Variations:
Traditional: replace the lemon zest with 1 teaspoon of anise extract and drop the vanilla from 2 teaspoons to 1.
Citrus: replace the lemon zest with orange zest or lime zest, or use a couple different kinds.
Rose: replace one teaspoon of vanilla with 1 teaspoon of rose water and omit the lemon zest.
Cinnamon: add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Enjoy! Happy Holidays!
