Classic Anise Pizzelles

Special thanks to Maria Fine, who both introduced me to pizzelles and made them for this shoot. 

The older I get the less enamored I am with things. Different shades of lip gloss and plates for special occasions and specialized kitchen gadgets all look the same to me; they are bits of clutter overtaking my house and therefore too, they are my hard earned money on the fast track from my bank account to the Goodwill. And at first glance, a pizzelle iron seems to fall under that condemnable category of barely useable kitchen gadgets, but I've given it a lot of thought since I fell in love with the pizzelle in Pittsburgh last Thanksgiving. The fact of the matter is that, like a fancy dress and nowhere to wear it, I just plain wanted one because they're pretty. A pizzelle iron takes a minute amount of rather mundane looking batter and transforms it into an intricately ornate, buttery morsel. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this kitchen tool may only make one thing, but the thing it makes is a palate for an endless number of flavorings and uses.

Before I ramble on about all the proverbial places I plan to wear my prom dress, let me tell you about the little black dress version of the pizzelle. It's nothing but butter, eggs, flour and sugar, accented elegantly with the distinct scent of anise. For those of you who don't care for that somewhat abrasive, licorice-y punch that is usually associated with anise, I urge you to give it one last try in a pizzelle that is made with natural oil or whole seeds. When combined with copious amount of butter, toasted and caramelized on a hot cast iron press, the flavor of anise is metamorphosed into something earthy, sweet and mild. If you still don't like it, that's okay because there's only about a million other flavors of pizzelle you can make.

So now let's talk about the possibilities, starting with flavor. You can use this basic recipe and add practically any extract you'd like, maybe even a few drops of some food grade essential oil. You could make vanilla bean pizzelles, dip them half in dark chocolate and dust them with pomegranate salt. You could add the zest of any citrus, crushed coriander seeds, honey, sesame or poppy seeds, chopped thyme. And that brings us to application: this pizzelle iron comes with a cone roller, meaning you could make beautiful little waffle cones to compliment any flavor of ice cream you can imagine. Or, using this technique, make pizzelle ice cream sandwiches. If you happen to have a cannoli form on hand, you could make pizzelle cannoli! Go crazy.

If you make a flavor of pizzelle based on this recipe, I'm dying to hear about it! Post a picture to Instagram or Twitter and tag me @HMMessinger. 

Maria Fine's Pizzelles
-makes 50-60 5" cookies
6 eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 1/2 cups AP flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
flavoring: 1 Tablespoon anise oil OR 1 1/2 Tablespoons anise extract plus 1 Tablespoon anise seeds cooking spray

1. Preheat pizzelle iron according to manufacturer's instructions. Beat eggs and sugar together until sugar is dissolved.

2. Add butter, a little bit at a time, followed by flavoring. If using anise seeds, crush lightly with a mortar and pestle.

3. Fluff flour and baking powder together with a fork and add to egg mixture in three additions. Stir only until just combined.

4. Spray pizzelle iron before each cookie and ladle in the recommended amount of batter (once you get a feel for the right amount I recommend you order an ice cream scoop that size to make your work easier). The first few usually stick, so have a popsicle stick or scraper of some kind handy to get the cookies out before they burn. Cool on a wire rack.