AJourney2Italy

Passport & Plate - Grandmom's Pizzelles

USA | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients
Grandmom's Pizzelle Recipe

(yields: 180 – 200 pizzelles)

Ingredients:

12 eggs
3 cups sugar
4 bars of butter
6 tbs. almond extract
6 tbs. vanilla extract
4 tsp. baking powder
5 – 6 cups flour

 

How to prepare this recipe
In following order, mix each ingredient in large mixing bowl:

12 eggs
3 cups sugar
4 bars of butter
6 tbs. almond extract
6 tbs. vanilla extract
4 tsp. baking powder
5 – 6 cups flour

After all ingredients are mixed, let batter settle for 1 – 1½ hours.

Using a rounded teaspoon, place a dollop of the dough in the center of each plate on the pizzelle iron.

Close the lid - and press it tightly.

After 40 seconds of baking, remove the pizzelles from the pizzelle iron using a plastic fork.

Lay the pizzelles flat on a tray to solidify.

Once pizzelles have been solidified, they can be stacked on top of each other.

Serve to your guests... and enjoy!

 

The story behind this recipe
My Grandmother came up with this simple recipe as a way to provide an affordable Holiday treat for her large family - and ever since the time I was small, I have wonderful, fragrant memories of entering her house, bowled over by seeing the beautiful tray of pizzelles on her dining room table.

And while the sight and aroma of these Italian cookies were indeed amazing, the incredible taste of them is what can still transport me back to those days with just one succulent bite.

My Mom picked up the ball with baking Holiday pizzelles after her mother's passing; she has subsequently passed the recipe on to me. However while I greatly enjoy making the cookies myself, I still relish entering her home at Christmastime - knowing her wonderful pizzelles will be there waiting for us all.

I love this recipe - and the family history behind it - so much that, in 2011, I left my good, comfortable job as an Human Resources Director in Manhattan, to change careers midlife and take a much riskier journey - which allowed me to feature one of Grandmom's star attraction dishes, her pizzelles, in my first indie feature film.

The movie (which I wrote and directed), entitled CONTEST, is a narrative teen anti-bullying story that I felt completely compelled change my entire life to tell - but I knew to make such a bold career transition, I needed my Grandmom there with me.

Since she's been residing in Heaven for decades, I took her pizzelle recipe on my journey with me instead.

And, her pizzelles are indeed, an integral part of the movie’s story.

Grandmom's gift to Mom, which Mom has since passed onto me, has now branched out to tween, teen and adult audiences all over with the "featured role" my Grandmom's pizzelles play in the film.

For me, the memory that shines brightest, however, whenever I see, smell or taste a pizzelle is my Grandmom's shining face looking down on her tiny grandson, happily chomping away at the fruits of her hands and heart.