Mom’s Recipe Box: Pizzelles
{Watching To All The Boys: Always and Forever on Netflix while waiting.}
My favorite Valentine’s gift to give to family and friends is pizzelle and ice cream.
I remember making them with mom when I was little, back when we made them on her cast iron pizzelle maker. It was quite a production, especially when she would take them to dinner at my grandparents’ and double the recipe. It was one of my grandpa’s favorites.
My machine makes 3 mini cookies, so this Valentine’s Day, I stacked about 8 each in pink 2-cup Pyrex containers and gave them with a pint of vanilla Haagan Daz ice cream — I think it tastes the best with vanilla. And when delivering them, timing is everything.
I took the recipe from mom’s recipe box, but I’m not sure where the recipe originally came from. (Unlike the recipes I found online, this one calls for almond extract instead of vanilla extract.)
INGREDIENTS:
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS:
Beat eggs. Add sugar, melted butter, and almond extract. Beat well. Beat in remaining ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto preheated grill. Close lid and immediately clip handles together. Allow to cook until steaming stops — about 30 to 60 seconds. Remove with fork. Allow to cool on wire racks.
My Notes:
I place the spoonful of batter a little off centered toward the back of the circle, making adjustments as i go to get it in the right spot, then slowly jiggle the lid closed to spread out the dough, pressing the lid down in the front and locking it shut. Once it’s locked, I carefully (it’s hot!) press down the back of the lid to try to spread it out evenly.
You’ll have to adjust the heat based on your pizzelle maker, but I turn mine to just over the “3.” And although the directions say to cook until it stops steaming, I find on my machine, if I wait until it is no longer steaming and the sizzle quiets, it comes out to the perfect golden brown.
When I’m not sure, I gently lift the cover to take a peak and carefully close the lid straight back down if it needs to cook a little longer.
Once it’s golden brown, I remove the pizzelle carefully with a spatula so as not to scratch the non-stick surface (again, it’s hot!) then place it on a cooling rack. After letting it cool a bit, I break them apart (if the dough spreads to make one giant piece) and clean up the edges, then return them to the rack to cool completely before packing them.
