Vanilla & Chocolate Pizzelles

We literally had a full spread of cookies, after all, we Italians are a little bit crazy when it comes to serving food over the holidays, we clearly can never make enough of it. But the wonderful smells of chocolate, cookies and star anise from the pizzelles paint such vivid memories into my head, it’s something I truly never want to forget.

Believe it or not, while I’ve seen then made a million times I’ve never made pizzelles myself, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. Wow, was it easier than I thought?! Pizzelles are literally like little thin waffles minus the rigorous preparation of using yeast and resting the batter.

You can also get extremely creative with changing up the flavor profile by adding in almond extract, chocolate or even liqueurs. While I love the smell of star anise I’m actually not a huge fan of eating it so I decided to use a simple vanilla flavor and a chocolate flavored one and both were amazing!

I got a ton of help making these with the Cuisinart Crepe, Pancake and Pizzelle Maker which made it incredibly easy to do. First, let’s start with the batter: it’s a simple mixture of eggs, sugar, butter, flour and baking soda and that’s it. From there, you can get creative by adding in different flavors. I used vanilla extract and then divided the batter in half and added in semi-sweet cocoa powder and a little more sugar.

Next, simply spray the pizzelle cooker with a littler bit of non-stick spray, add a tablespoon of the batter and in two minutes they are finished. You will have to do some trimming of the cookie once it is done because often times it does not come out a perfect circle. Don’t worry if yours do not, most people come up with some odd shaped ones, just simply trim them.

Next, sprinkle with some powdered sugar and you are good to go! Yup, it’s really that easy.