Pizzelle. Stacey / flickr / 2009 / CC BY 2.0
Pizzelle are thin, crispy Italian cookies made particularly at Easter and Christmas.
The batter for them is made from flour, eggs, sugar, a fat (either melted butter or vegetable oil), and a flavouring, such as vanilla, lemon zest or anise. The eggs are beaten, then have the flavouring and sugar added to them, then the fat, and at the last, the flour and baking powder.
They are cooked in a device called a “pizzelle iron” which is very similar to a waffle iron; you can’t really make them without a pizzelle iron. The device both cooks them and imprints a design onto both sides of them.
It can be time-consuming to cook them. You need about 30 to 60 seconds per cookie, depending on the iron. Some irons will do two at a time.
The cookies are soft when they come out of the iron. They harden and crisp up as they cool. While they are still soft, they can be moulded into cups to hold desserts, or formed into ice cream cones.
Or, you can just let them harden, and dust them with icing sugar and serve them as cookies.
Storage Hints
Store pizzelle in an air-tight container. They can lose their crispness in moist or humid air. To recrisp, put them in a hot oven for 2 to 3 minutes.
Language Notes
Pizzelle means “little pizzas.”