My New Pizzelle Maker

Foodie and Architect are in Paris.

Our dinners will resume next week. Can’t wait to hear all about their trip.

I am half Italian and half Irish and grew up with my Italian grandmother so I cherish my Italian heritage. One of my co-workers is also half Italian and this past weekend, she made pizzelles. Pizzelles are Italian cookies that look like thin waffles, usually flavored with vanilla and anise. She brought some into work but lamented that while she finally achieved the thickness she wanted, she was disappointed that they were soft…pizzelles should be crispy. So we chatted and mutually decided that she needed to do a few things differently.

She probably didn’t realize the conversation would appear in a post.

Anyway, that got me thinking that I did not have a pizzelle maker. My grandmother had an old cast iron, stove-top number…it looked like this…black with long, thin handles. Not wanting to be all that rustic and authentic and hoping to avoid certain bodily harm, I bought an electric version. We know I am clumsy, so best not to put me in proximity of a hot, cast iron device.

I turned to my Gravy Wars book for a pizzelle recipe (Grandmom did not document hers…I should call my Aunt Adeline).

Pizzelles
6 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup of butter, melted
4 teaspoons of baking power
3 ½ cups of flour
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon of anise extract
1 Tablespoon of anise seed

“Blend all ingredients and drop by teaspoon onto a heated pizzelle iron. Pizzelles bake in the time it takes to say one (respectful) Hail Mary”…about 30-40 seconds.

If you want to be really fancy, while the pizzelles are still hot, drop Hershey’s chocolate bar sections on the edge of each pizzelle and roll into a tube.


My new electric pizzelle maker.