Chocolate Pizzelles with my Nonna

With finals complete and passing grades logged, I am official 1/8 of a doctor! Now I have three weeks to recover before I dive into another semester full of hard work.

But I am so happy to be home for the holidays. I intend to catch up on some sleep, finish When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, and spend some quality time with my family.

So... cue the Michael Bublé Christmas album and light those vanilla bean candles. I am ready to get in Christmas Spirit!

There is never a shortage of baked goods in my neighborhood around Christmas time. I have blossomed into the "cake person". I proudly make every icing from scratch and decorate my cakes to the season. I love to make layer cakes filled with ganache, fruit, or just a homemade buttercream. Every special occasion needs a cake! My mom is the "chocolate cookie person". She makes the BEST chocolate chip cookies, salted caramel bark, and Reeses’ peanut butter temptation cookies. She adds a lot of LOVE to 30+ dozen cookies she bakes around this time of year, which is probably why her cookies are so hard to resist.

Now, Nonna… she is the "traditional cookie person". She makes the biscotti, caramel cups, wedding cookies, and sugared pecans. Every one of her recipes is handwritten on a recipe card and passed on from a friend, relative, or neighbor. I love spending time in the kitchen with her. Her house has a permanent scent of good Italian cooking. If I could make a candle that smelled like “Nonna’s Kitchen”, I would make a fortune. It would be one magical candle, changing scents from fresh basil and tomato sauce to apple pie and warm nut rolls.

A few weeks ago, I came across a new idea to spice up Nonna’s traditional pizzelle (pronounced “pit-sel”) cookie. I wanted to make them festive for the holidays, so I liked idea of dipping them in melting chocolates and sprinkling them with candy canes and pistachios. This project was lots of fun. The pizzelles turned out to be very cute and festive! It was actually my first time making pizzelles from the batter to the finished product. Rookie me made a mess in Nonna’s kitchen (cocoa powder everywhere!) and slipped up on the recipe a little, but the finished product turned out really well. A dozen wrapped in a holiday bow would make a thoughtful gift to a neighbor or friend. See the recipe below.

While I am in the kitchen with Nonna, we get to talk about life. She has so many stories to tell. Stories about life, love, and old traditions! Nonna told me that her mom used to make pizzelles when she was young. Pizzelle comes from the Italian word “pizze” which means round or flat. Just like pizza! The cookies are thought to have originated in the Italian region of Abruzzo.

Traditionally, families pass on their pizzelle irons, which is how my Nonna got her first pizzelle iron from her mother. My great-grandmother would make pizzelles on the stove with an iron that only cooked one cookie at a time. She had to cook them over an open flame and flip the pizzelle to heat both sides. It was a lot of work, so she usually only made them for special occasions like weddings, Christmas, and Easter. My great-grandmother had a limited number of flavors she would make. She stuck to anise with a hint of lemon or orange. Occasionally, she would add some almond extract.

Just like her own mother, Nonna likes pizzelles best with a cup of coffee. Nonna prefers her coffee black to balance the bitter taste of coffee with the sweet taste of a pizzelle. Now, there are so many creative ways to make pizzelles and so many unique flavors like chocolate, peanut butter, hazelnut, and pumpkin. This holiday season, we added some more creativity with chocolate and toppings!

To make the pizzelles in the recipe below, we prepped the batter on the day before cooking and decorating them. We refrigerated the dough for 24 hours, so the butter could solidify again. Nonna is now on her third pizzelle iron. She currently uses a CucinaPro and loves it! She can make pizzelles twice as fast with less of a mess. It is easy to say that Nonna wears out her kitchen equipment. She is also on her third KitchenAid mixer! Her KitchenAid is her favorite kitchen gadget, as is mine!

I am thankful for moments like these that Nonna and I can spend together in the kitchen. We talk about traditions, laugh about old memories, and share a common love of baking. A new goal I have for 2020 is to take more photos and videos to remember these moments we share together.

Nonna and I are both so happy to spend this holiday season with family and friends. We look forward to cooking the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve and sitting around the table with good company. From Nonna and I, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas! May God bless you and your families with good health and happiness in the new year.

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Chocolate Pizzelle

Yields 3 dozen

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter

• 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 10 oz. chocolate melting wafers (I used Ghirardelli melting wafers for this batch.)

• Sprinkles, pistachios, nuts, peppermint, etc. for decoration

Pizzelle Directions:

• Cream together butter and sugar.

• Whisk eggs and add to butter and sugar mixture. Beat well.

• Add baking powder and cocoa powder. Mix.

• Gradually add flour. Mix until just incorporated. Batter should be quite thick.

• Refrigerate batter for 3-4 hours. (We let ours sit overnight, just to break up the tasks.)

• Place 1 tablespoon batter onto a hot pizzelle press.

• Close lid and cook for 35-40 seconds or until slightly browned.

• Use fork to remove cookie from press.

• Transfer to cooling rack to lay flat.

Optional toppings directions:

• In a double boiler, melt white, dark, or milk chocolate. (I have found that it is always best to keep the double boiler on a low heat to prevent the chocolate from burning in the pan or getting clumpy. Try to refrain from adding any oil, milk, or butter while it melts. This could make the chocolate harder to dry on the cookie.)

• Dip the cooled and firm pizzelle cookie into the chocolate. Shake excess chocolate back into double boiler.

• Sprinkle with toppings of choice. (I used crushed candy canes, sprinkles, and crushed pistachios).

• Stand upright to let cool. (I used my cooling rack to line them up. See photos.) Do not stack until chocolate is firm.

• Place in a cool, dry place.

Note: Pizzelles are best stored in tins, paper bags, or aluminum foil to prevent them from softening. These make a thoughtful homemade gift stacked, wrapped, and tied up in a festive bow.

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