Authentic Italian Pizzelle Recipe

5 from 10 votes

Easy pizzelle recipe, a traditional Italian cookie, using a pizzelle iron.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time45 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: cookies

Calories: 63kcal

Heat the Pizzelle waffle iron, while you prepare the batter.
Whisk eggs, white sugar, butter, and anise extract in a large bowl. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt until the batter is smooth.
When the iron is ready to use, spray with non-tick cooking spray. Place one tablespoon of batter on each of the hot plates, and close the lid. A cookie scoop or melon baller works perfectly for this.
Cook until hardly any steam is being produced, usually somewhere between 45 seconds to a minute.
Some models have a light that goes from red to green as the Pizzelle cook and back to green a second time, indicating that the Pizzelle are ready.
Use a fork or a thin spatula to remove the Pizzelle to a wire rack to cool. Continue until the batter is all used up.
Cool Pizzelle completely, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Store the Pizzelle in your favorite jar, or tins for longer storage. This will help to retain their crispy textures.

Although I'd never considered adding nuts, Diane added chopped pecans to her chocolate batter and it was delicious. However, adding nuts to the mix does make the Pizzelle stick to the Pizzelle Iron more frequently.
Pizzelle irons come in various sizes. This includes 3″ and 5". If I had it to do over again, I would have purchased the 5″ pizzelle iron.
You can use Pizzelle to make Cannoli shells. To do this, you need to shape them when the pizzelle are warm (they become crisp as they cool off). Cannoli tubes or forms can be used to make the shells.
Another tool that comes in handy is an ice cream cone mold. The molds are used to make pizzelle ice cream cones. Be sure to purchase the 5" pizzelle iron, instead of the 3" pizzelle iron, which would be too small to make cannoli shells and ice cream cones.
Another idea would be to drape the soft pizzelle over an overturned small bowl. Once the pizzelle cool off and harden, they make an edible ice-cream bowl.
Finally, you can use two pizzelle to make an ice-cream sandwich; Is that a great idea, or what?