I have been making pizzelles of all kinds since someone gave me her pizzelle iron when I lived in Kansas City. She had bought it thinking it was a waffle iron. They make terrible waffles. Her mistake was my triumph. Tragically, that pizzelle iron jumped off the top of my refrigerator and did a kind of twist dive to its death earlier this year.
I hadn’t replaced it despite the fact that I had a few visions about new flavors I would have made if I still had an iron. A dear friend sent me one for Christmas, so I am back in the business of pizzelle creativity. Heaven forbid I make the traditional anise flavored cookies. Because I'll be making German springerle which are anise cookies, I like to make pizzelles with different flavorings.
One of my favorites over the years was a pumpkin butter pizzelle. They are so autumnal. I made a big batch for my sister’s wedding cookie table. (It’s a Southwestern PA tradition. In addition to wedding cake, a table full of a variety of cookies are required. It’s kind of a serious full-contact cutthroat sport to see who can have the most and best cookies for the table. Sisters, aunts, grandmothers—all the womenfolk—spend weeks making every cookie they can think of trying to out-do the last wedding they attended. It's a point of pride.)
The pizzelles I tend to make most often are flavored with rose water. They are so perfect with tea. I like to tint them pink to delineate them from the other flavors. Pink pizzelles are just so pretty with their lacey imprints.
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| Orange-swirled Creamsicle Pizzelles |
Today, I christened my new pizzelle iron. This batch is “creamsicle” flavored because they have orange peel and vanilla flavoring. I swirled in some orange food coloring to distinguish them from the additional flavors I have planned. I really like the orange cream flavoring in these. What could make them better? In the morning, I just may drizzle some of them with chocolate too.
Stay tuned for further pizzelle experiments. I realize they are not “authentic” Italian when I flavor them creatively, but as a person of German-Swiss extraction, I don’t feel bound by the official practices of Italy. (Making springerle, a German cookie, in any other flavor but anise does feel wrong to me.) Gingerbread pizzelles maybe?
(Supervision of the pizzelle iron christening today was provided by Felicity.)
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