The Baking Bargainista: Classic Italian Pizzelles

Like any good Italian, my mother volunteered to make pizzelles for a get together with friends this weekend. Unlike traditional pizzelles, my mother likes to make them a little thicker, so they're a little less crunchy and a lot more reminiscent of what I like to call, a comfort cookie.

I've always loved pizzelles. They're a very simple cookie, really - flour, sugar, eggs, margarine, baking powder, anise. Your textbook ingredients for your typical-old-baked-good. But pizzelles are special - each one is like a snowflake when you make them from scratch. Each holds a slightly different shape than the last, the patterns seeming to form a unique design on each individual cookie even though they all came from the same press. Yes, they're undoubtedly the snowflakes of Italian cookies.

My mother bought this pizzelle maker in the late 1970s and has been using it, with love, ever since. It is still packed away after every use in it's original blue & white (now yellow with the years) box. And, in the box, goes the key to the power of the pizzelle - the original recipe that came with the machine:

Here's the recipe again for easy reading:

Pizzelles

6 eggs
3 1/2 C. of Flour
1 1/2 C. Sugar
1 C. Margarine
4 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tbsp. Anise extract

Beat eggs, adding sugar gradually. Beat until smooth. Add cooled melted margarine and anise. Sift flour and baking powder and add to egg mixture. Dough will be sticky enough to be dropped by spoon.

Spray the pizzelle maker with butter spray. Drop dough by the tablespoon in to the center of each cookie plate. Close for a minute & allow to cook. Next, check on your pizzelle! If you want a more crispy cookie, leave in the machine for another thirty seconds - If you prefer yours a little softer, remove after a minute. Cookie will be lightly golden.

Allow to cool & store in an airtight container.

Don't have a pizzelle maker? Here's a modern version by Cuisinart: