Kate’s Pizzelles
Kate makes pizzelles every year, at Christmas, and they are always a hit. They are a very thin and almost understated cookie; I assure you they are highly addictive!
Our first Christmas in Maine, after everyone had moved out, from California, Kate spent the 24th making dozens and dozens of pizzelles, in anticipation of our Christmas Eve dinner, later that night.
She had laid them out, all over the kitchen, which was huge! The counters were covered, as was the table, with cooling pizzelles.
We went to church, and came home to put the finishing touches on the meal. It took us several minutes, standing in the kitchen, nodding our heads, to figure out what was wrong – the counters and table were completely empty, every pizzelle was gone, and Callaghan, our incredibly large and smart dog, was stretched out, on the kitchen rug, with what can only be called a Christmas smile! He had eaten every last one – or at least he had facilitated the feast he, and our other two dogs, Merry and Charlie, enjoyed.
This recipe requires the use of a pizzelle iron, which is available in cookware stores and Italian specialty shops. Buy one with a non-stick surface for easy cleaning.
Ingredients:
6 large Eggs at room temperature
2 cups of Sugar
1 cup of melted Butter
4 tsp. Anise extract
7 cups all purpose Flour
4 T. Baking Powder
Oil for griddle
Directions:
In bowl of mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes
Add cooled butter and anise. Stir in the flour and baking powder. Beat the batter until well combined and a dough-like consistency.
Heat the pizzelle baker, lightly oil surface. Scoop out about an 1” of dough onto each side of the pizzelle baker, close lid and bake for 35-45 seconds, just until very light brown and crisp. Remove from baker, form into desired shape or leave as is. Continue with remaining dough, placing the cookies on wax paper to cool. This recipe will make about 75 cookies.
