QUING Parties at the Palace with PIZZELLES

“My girls have just had their first pizzelle and it’s not even close to tasting as amazing as yours. But it has made me miss u all so much more.”  

Husband always teases, "Food is love!" He's right. It's transcendent. Like a song or scent that takes us back to a moment frozen in time, a favorite meal, dessert or beverage makes us smile, laugh, yearn, remember. My love affair with pizzelles began when I was a child. The moment I smelled the unmistakable scent of anise, I knew there were powder-sugar dusted cookies nearby, and hoped I was going to get one. I still remember when my mom bought her first pizzelle pan. She and I worked our way through at least forty batches of dough- attempting to drop the batter on the iron at just the right spot- before we hatched the perfect pizzelle. Twenty-something, I bought a pan of my own and baked pizzelles for parties, festivals, meetings, showers and holidays. But it wasn’t until I visited my dear friend Cathy during the holidays years ago that I realized the pizzelles I had been baking were good, but not even close to divine. Cathy's mom, Kay made the most delicious pizzelles I have ever tasted. A charming, delightful, devoted mom and grandma, Kay treated everyone she met like a favorite child. Within ten seconds of biting into one of her pizzelles-and wiping the powdered sugar off my chin-I asked Kay to share her recipe. I still have the index card she sent me, the recipe so simple and neatly typed. It is the pizzelle recipe that transforms delicious to divine.

    

All this adoration may seem excessive for a cookie-so light and fragile-that breaks into a million pieces if you bend, drop or fold it after it cools. But, as you read in the quote above, there is something truly unique about pizzelles. Something transcendent. Gustare!

KAY'S PIZZELLES

3 1/2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons Anise or Vanilla flavoring
Powdered sugar for dusting each cookie

Sift flour and baking powder. Set aside. Beat eggs. Gradually add sugar to eggs, beating until smooth. Add cooled butter and anise or vanilla.  Stir until blended. Add dry mixture into egg mixture, stirring until smooth and shiny. Dough will be sticky enough to be dropped by a spoon.

NOTES:  Working with two spoons, drop a heaping teaspoon of dough on the iron, just above the center of the flower.  Bake for 20-30 seconds or until cookie begins to brown. Remove with a fork and transfer to a cooling rack. Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar. This recipe makes three to four dozen cookies, so I often cut it in half.   

If a pizzelle pan is on your holiday wish list, I suggest the Villaware Pizzelle Uno Baker. It bakes two thin, crispy cookies at a time. It may take a few batches (years) till you drop the dough just right on the iron, hatching a perfectly round pizzelle. Not to worry, the non-perfect designs taste just as good!