Grandma's Pizzelle

I am completely indulging myself with this post.  I truly don't believe there are too many folks out there looking for pizzelle recipes.  First of all, you probably need to be Italian.  You also need to have had a grandmother or great aunt or someone who made them for you, as they're pretty old school.  Then, you need to actually like the taste of anise; in my experience, not many people do.  And finally -- and this is the biggie -- you actually have to have access to a pizzelle maker.  It's essentially like a waffle iron, only it makes thin cookies into their distinctive floral/star shape on one side, and grid pattern on the other side.

  

I actually meet all four of those requirements, including owning a pizzelle maker.   My grandmother used to make pizzelle all the time.   She always had a stack of them in her house, and we were constantly going home with a package of them wrapped up in foil.  For holidays she would even make the chocolate variety.  

So, there is nothing inherently Christmas-y about them, but for me, I can't imagine a Christmas without them.  This is my first Christmas without my grandmother.  She died this summer at 91 years old -- and she was making pizzelle almost until the end.  It's a tradition I want to pass along to my girls.  As they grow up, they won't really remember their Bisnonna, but I can continue her tradition through the pizzelle.   Her recipe follows. 

Big Vick's Pizzelle

(makes about 3 dozen cookies)

6 eggs

2 sticks of softened butter

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

2 teaspoons of anise oil

3 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups of sugar

4 teaspoons of baking powder

3 tablespoons anise seed

-- Heat up the pizzelle iron

-- Cream eggs, butter, vanilla, and aniseed together

-- Add dry ingredients and blend until smooth.  Batter should be thick

-- Spray canola oil or some other non-stick spray onto both the top and bottom parts of the pizzelle iron.  You may need to repeat this a few times as you work through the batter

-- Drop about a tablespoon of the batter into the center of the iron, depending on how thick you want the cookies to be.  Shut iron and keep pressed for about 30-45 seconds.   The tighter you keep it, the thinner the cookies will be. 

-- Use a spatula to remove the cookies from the iron

-- Let cool, and then pack airtight

Once you make these a few times you'll learn that the first few cookies are your "mulligan" cookies.    It will take you a few cookies to figure out how much batter to use, how thick/thin you want them to be, how long to keep the iron shut, how often you will need to re-spray the iron, etc.  But once you get the hang of it, they're fun to make.   The cookies are a yummy alternative to biscotti with coffee in the morning.   And the anise has a nice digestive flavor for after dinners. 

If you're at all interested in buying your own pizzelle maker, you should check out Fante's.  It is located in the Italian market area of South Philadelphia, but has an online storefront as well.   This is where my own grandmother bought some of her own equipment.   

Enjoy your pizzelle, and Buon Natale!