Pizelles

Pizzelles are the oldest known cookie in Italian baking, originating in the Abruzzo region centuries ago. The name means ‘little flat’ in Italian, and they’re traditionally made on a hand-engraved iron held over an open flame. A modern electric pizzelle iron does the work in under a minute, pressing the dough into thin, crisp wafer cookies stamped with snowflakes, flowers, or family crest patterns.

This traditional recipe uses both butter and shortening. The butter provides flavor while the shortening adds the structural fat needed for crisp, snappy cookies that don’t go limp the next day. All-butter pizzelles taste richer but soften within hours.

Vanilla is the classic flavoring, though anise extract is the more traditional Italian-American choice. A whole tablespoon sounds bold but bakes down into a quiet background sweetness as the cookies dehydrate against the hot iron.

Golf-ball sized balls placed in the center of each grid are the right portion. Smaller and you get incomplete cookies; larger and the dough oozes out the sides and burns.

Pro Tips

• Let the iron preheat fully before the first cookie, then cook a test pizzelle that you can discard. The first cookie usually doesn’t release cleanly.
• Lift the lid carefully and slide a thin spatula under each cookie immediately after the timer beeps. Pizzelles harden within seconds.
• Shape warm pizzelles into cones or cups by draping over a small bowl while still hot for cannoli shells or ice cream cups.
• Store in an airtight container with a slice of bread for soft pizzelles, or open-stack for crisp cookies.

Variations

• Replace vanilla with anise extract for a traditional Italian flavor.
• Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder for chocolate pizzelles.
• Sandwich two pizzelles with Nutella or hazelnut cream for an indulgent dessert.