Pizzelle

(unedited)

Pizzelle originated from the Abruzzo region in south-central Italy. The name comes from the Italian word "pizze" which means round and flat. These traditional Italian waffle cookies were originally made on cast-iron grills over a high heat. They are believed to be one of the oldest cookie recipes known, dating back to the ancient Roman times. They were traditionally made during Easter and Christmas time, but are now enjoyed year-round.

However, the word "pizzelle" is not used in Abruzzo (or elsewhere in Italy) to describe them. They are called "ferratelle" (ferro means iron) or "neole" in Abruzzo.

Pizzelle are quite popular in the United States. They were particularly widespread in my hometown of Rochester, NY, which had a lot of immigrants from The Abruzzi (now Abruzzo and Molise). I have no idea why Italian-Americans used the name pizzelle. Did they bring it from somewhere in Italy or did it evolve here? No idea.

I finally broke down and bought a pizzelle iron, a non-stick model from Palmer. It has nearly the same pattern as my mom's back in the 1970's, though I think my pizzelle come out a little thinner and thus crisper. Also, I think the anise seeds of today are smaller than those back then. But it's all fine. These are remarkably easy to make and it's hard to find somebody who doesn't like them. This is my sister's version of the recipe, which is basically the same as the ones that come with the irons, but with a little extra anise seed.

If you don't like anise seeds, you could try substituting the seeds from one or two vanilla pods.

One interesting variation is to spread a little nutella on the pizzella just before removing it from the hot plate, then roll it up into a cylindrical shape. In this case, you likely want to use the non-anise-seed version.

3 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup cooled melted butter

1/4 tsp salt only if you used unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

3.44 tsp (8.6 g) anise seed (original recipe: 2 heaping tsp anise seed)

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat iron according to manufacturer's directions. Mine requires 10-15 minutes of preheating, so you may as well start now, otherwise your first pizzella will be a disaster (I've made this mistake too many times). The manufacturer may also require that you apply some vegetable oil or other fat to the surface. I use some paper towel to apply a light coat of vegetable oil while it's heating up, then occasionally apply an even lighter coat while cooking the batch.

2. Set up your stand mixer with the wire beater attachment (ideally).

3. Beat eggs and sugar.

4. Add cooled melted butter, optional salt (unsalted butter only), vanilla extract and anise seeds.

5. Sift flour with baking powder and add to egg mixture.

6. Put enough batter on each plate to fill the plate when closed, but avoid excessive overflow of batter. I'd place the batter slighly back of center.

7. Cook for time until your desired level of color. Keep an eye on them. They cook pretty fast.

8. Dry them on a baking rack until they are cooled.

9. Wrap in parchment paper and then plastic wrap, or just layer them between sheets of parchment paper in a sealed container.

These had too much batter or they were too far forward (see next photo):

... because this is a little too much overflow, particularly on the right:

These came out ok, maybe very slightly too done, but pretty close: