Pizzelle cookies and Happy 2022!

LEAH’S NOTEBOOK:

*PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SKIP MY MUSINGS AND GO DIRECTLY TO THE RECIPE.

Happy New Year, my friends! Hope you are well this beginning of 2022 and all throughout the year! I will keep this one short but sweet, and hopeful. I love to create lists most especially around the New Year. I like to write about my intentions for the coming year — of things that I want to do and accomplish as I embrace the fresh new start with excitement. Every year, I would make a list of places to visit, people to meet, fun things to do each month and every season…..

I am skipping writing those lists this year. I am sure, that just like me, you also did not see this coming. What I mean is living with the new variant as if it was 2020 all over again. They say that we are in a better place because of the vaccinations. I agree. However, life still feels unstable. Being constantly on hypervigilance mode to remain safe is just exhausting.

Instead of making a list, I have created simple intentions that include very simple things. I intend to embrace every moment and find joy in it. I intend to be grateful for every blessing that comes my way. I intend to deal with the challenges that will cross my path with grace. I intend to appreciate every person I love — my family, Mr Sweetie, BFF, friends and people whose paths I will cross with this year. I intend to be happy with simple joys and celebrate every season. And intend to lean into faith, give others grace and myself as well.

Well, this turned out to be not really short. On this note, I wish you and yours a blessed, abundant and healthy year! And let us hope that 2022 is better than 2021! (I have a feeling that it will be!)

EASY PIZZELLE COOKIES

*This is not a sponsored post. All of my posts are free of any commercial sponsorship.

Funny story and I promise that it is related to this cookie post: If I have not mentioned before, during the lockdown of 2020, I did a “little bit” of retail therapy to ease the anxiety brought about by working from home and all those pandemic-related stuff that we dealt with. I went a little overboard and bought a quite a bit of DASH products. I bought a donut maker, pie maker, airfryer, waffle makers of different designs, egg cooker, mixer and pizzelle cookie maker! (Yikes! I know!) I am attracted to DASH kitchen products because they are cute space savers and very affordable. They also work really well and they are so fun!

Back to pizzelle cookies, I got the pizzelle maker so I could make cookies with my nephews around the holidays to start a new tradition. We did make them and the cookies turned out to be a hit. Even my dad and brother-in-law ate them after my nephews and I enjoyed making them.

Pizzelle cookies are Italian waffle cookies. They are thin, crispy and very pretty with intricate patterns. Looking at the swirly and delicate patterns sold me to getting the pizzelle maker. They will harden as they cool down. They can be shaped as well as desired for cannoli or ice cream cones.

As of this afternoon, I have made pizzelle cookies on three occasions already. One thing I would say, “practice makes perfect.” I have not yet perfected making pizzelle cookies that looked perfectly round like on the DASH box. However, I am getting there. My pizzelle cookies get better and better. Please see my notes following the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or anise extract

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat pizzelle maker.
2. Melt butter in microwave and allow to cool.
3. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add in eggs, melted butter and extract to the dry ingredients
5. Mix together well.
6. Using a tablespoon, add about a tablespoon and half of batter on the pizzelle iron.
7. Close gently and allow the batter to spread.
8. Bake until light brown.
9. Set pizzelle cookies on cooling rack. They will harden and become crisp.
10. Sprinkle with powdered sugar once cooled (optional).

my notes

1. It takes practice to get the perfect amount of batter to put on the iron. Too little will result in incomplete circle while too much batter will make it overflow. If this happens, just wipe the sides of your pizzelle maker or clean it according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
2. I found out that it is not necessary to spray the pizzelle maker with nonstick spray. Doing so turned the cookies dark brown.
3. The temperature of the house also affected the batter. The first time I made the cookies with my nephews, it was at my sister’s house where her kitchen was warm on that day. The batter spread without any issues. The second time I made pizzelle, it was a very cold winter day (in the 30s!). Even with the main heater turned on, my kitchen remained freezing cold! I was so frustrated as the batter would not spread! The cookies turned out more like pancakes than thin cookies. They were still crispy though and Mr Sweet devoured them. I made cookies again today which is in the 50s. The cookies turned out (almost) perfect.
4. I ended up trimming the edges of the cookies with kitchen scissors to make them perfectly round.
5. It is fun to make these cookies. They are almost works of art. Give them a try and be patient!

Did you make pizzelle cookies? Please let us know by leaving a comment below.