Classic Pizzelle: Italian Wafer Cookies

A recipe for Classic Pizzelle Cookies baked in an electric pizzelle press machine. These popular Italian cookies are anise flavoured, with specks of anise seeds throughout the cookie. And for chocoholics, there’s a variation for you as well. 

Italian pizzelle are thin wafer-like cookies. They’re light, crisp and make a perfect accompaniment to an after diner digestif or just about anytime really!

These Italian wafer cookies are extremely popular during the Christmas and Easter holidays. But they also often make an appearance at other special occasions such as baptisms or communions and family gatherings.

The very first time I made these cookies were with anise seeds harvested from my dad’s garden. Nowadays, I contend myself with the store bought variety since dad’s garden lies mostly dormant.

I have tried many different ones and I must say my absolute favourite is the anise pizzelle speckled with some aromatic anise seeds. Both the anise seeds and extract are my go to flavour choices when making Chocolate Anise Biscotti.

However, if you’re not a fan of anise you can substitute the anise extract and seeds with vanilla, lemon or even almond extract. 

Although wonderful all on their own, you can dust them with some powdered sugar for a little extra sweetness. Or not!

Served side by side, both the anise and chocolate variety make a striking combo

Pizzelle Recipe with Butter

Although you can make pizzelle with vegetable or canola oil, I much prefer the richness in flavour of the butter in these thin wafers.

Prep all your Ingredients for Anise Pizzelle

• 1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon anise seeds
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon anise extract

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, anise seeds and set aside.
• In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar on medium speed for about one minute, just until thickened.

• Reduce the speed to low and add in the melted butter, anise extract and mix just until all ingredients are combined, for about 15 seconds.
• Next, add in the flour mixture and also mix until combined for another 15 seconds. Don’t over mix the batter.

If you’re not ready to bake the cookies at this point, you can cover the bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate till ready to bake.

Simply bring the cookie batter to room temperature, for 30 minutes, before baking.

Tips for making perfect Classic Pizzelle

Depending on the type of pizzelle maker you have, you might need to grease the top and bottom grids for easy release of the cookies.

Use a flavourless vegetable oil or melted vegetable shortening. 

I used a baking spray and it worked wonders. I only needed to grease the grids once for the entire recipe.

Scoop out approximately 1 and a half to 2 teaspoons of batter onto the hot cookie grids, while placing the batter just a little behind the centre of the patterned grid. This way, when closing the lid, the batter gets pushed forward to the centre yielding a more evenly rounded looking cookie.

I used teaspoons to drop the batter onto the hot grid but you can also use a small cookie scoop.

Close the lid, lock and bake.

My pizzelle press comes with different level settings for browning. I set mine at number 4 and baked the cookies for 60 seconds because I love them golden and crisp. 

But if you prefer a lighter colour, reduce the baking time.

If you have a different pizzelle iron, follow the manufacturers instructions.

When ready, use a heat proof spatula to remove the cookies and place them in one single layer on a wire rack to cool.

Don’t worry too much if it spreads out from the outer circle, you can simply round off the edges with a scissor.

Things to do with Pizzelle

These thin Italian cookies can also be transformed into various shapes. Pizzelle, while still warm, can be rolled into cannoli shells and filled with sweetened ricotta.

To form the cannoli shape you’ll need a wooden or metallic dowel. The wooden dowel seen in the photo above actually came with my pizzelle iron but you can just as easily use the handle of a wooden spoon.

You can also sandwich 2 cookies together with ice-cream. Or you can turn a few into wafer cones and edible bowls to be used in a variety of ways.

Turning the wafer cookies into edible bowls is really quite fun to do!

Here I used a small liquor glass to form an edible ice-cream bowl.

Simply invert a cookie while still warm and pliable onto the glass while applying a gentle pressure downwards to shape the cookie. Take care not to crack the cookie and let cool inverted over the glass.

Then when ready to serve, top  the cookie bowl with a scoop or two of your favourite ice cream.

Another delicious filling for these edible bowls is freshly whipped up Ricotta Mousse with Strawberries Romanoff. This would definitely make an incredibly beautiful dessert to impress family and friends.

A Quick Tip: Lighter coloured cookies are easier to mold or roll than the darker ones. The darker they are, the crispier they get and will easily crack when shaped.

I love pairing and serving both the anise and chocolate cookies together. So if you’re a chocoholic as I am, follow the instructions below to satisfy your chocolate cravings.

Variation: For the Double Chocolate Pizzelle

• To make double chocolate cookies, reduce the flour to 1 and a half cups.
• Add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder to the flour mixture.
• Add 2 ounces of melted semi-sweet chocolate to the sugar and butter mixture.
• Omit both the anise seeds and extract. 
• Add 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract.