Tuesday, June 28, 2011

What You Need To Start Making Pizzelle

Pizzelle_recipe_4

Pizzelle are a beautiful, thin Italian cookie featuring grid or floral imprints.  They are sometimes rolled into cannoli shells or dusted with powdered sugar.  Because they are so beautiful and look so fancy on display, a lot of people have no idea that a pizzelle recipe is actually very simple and easy to make.

The process of making these delicate cookies is not so much difficult as it is time consuming.  Dough is spooned out onto patterned grids on a hot iron, and then the iron is closed and the cookies are left to bake, filling the grids and creating the thin cookie with the decorative patterns.  Pizzelle makers come in different sizes according to your preference, and usually only make from one to four cookies at a time.

But supplies and ingredients used in a pizzelle recipe are simple and easily found.  As a matter of fact, you probably have a number of the ingredients already.  These are the ingredients commonly used in a pizzelle recipe and supplies used in the baking.

Cookie Basics
The ingredients commonly used in a lot of cookie recipes include flour, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, salt, and baking powder.  These are the typical ingredients found in pizzelle, too.  If you are just making a basic vanilla cookie, you may even need only these ingredients.  But to quickly change the flavor, use a different extract instead of vanilla, such as chocolate or banana.

Flavoring Oil
Stronger and used in smaller amounts than extracts, these are most often used to give the pizzelle recipe its flavor.  Anise, with its licorice taste, is common and is an Italian favorite.  If it is not what you prefer, though, you have many other options to use.  Cinnamon and orange are also a great choice.  You can find flavoring oils with candy making supplies or online.

A Good Mixer
Because the recipe makes a thick dough, it is best to use an electric mixer.

A Pizzelle Maker
This appliance is not used for much more than making pizzelle and other waffle-style cookies, so it is not very multifunctional.  But if you make the cookies more than once every year, then it is worth buying an electric one.  An electric pizzelle maker makes use of anywhere from one to four patterned grids to make designs in the cookies.  You can find them online and in stores.

Powdered Sugar And A Sifter
Used to dust the cookies lightly after they cool.  While it is not necessary, it makes the presentation prettier.

Photo by trekkyandy