Classic Italian Pizzelle Cookies: Our Family Recipe

These beautiful, crispy waffle cookies are little discs of Heaven

As we creep up on Easter, my mind always goes to the Springtime treats my Italian grandmother & her sister [who we called Aunt Pipey] would spoil us with as children. This year, I thought I'd share our straight-off-the-boat-from-Naples recipe for Pizzelle Cookies. Not too sweet, light & crispy -- they are little discs of heaven & sooo easy to make. By exchanging her trio of baking extracts with my ‘i tres grandi’ blend, I have paired this recipe down to 6 simple ingredients, making them even easier to make & ensuring your classic Italian flavors are on point!

Pizzelles are often referred to as “The World’s Oldest Cookie” & have been an Italian staple at weddings, Christmas time, & at Easter for hundreds & hundreds of years. [seriously, like 12th-century or earlier!]   
​These light, crispy waffle cookies are traditionally made by pressing the batter in an iron with engraved plates that transfer their pretty design to the finished pizzelle. The name comes from the Italian words for “flat” [just like pizza…] & “small”, & they are most often flavored with anise or a blend of anise, lemon, & orange, as ours are. 

The old-school pizzelle iron in all its Non-Nonstick glory!

Electric pizzelle irons are readily available today & worth the investment, as they are the easiest route to best results. Most cook two cookies at a time. We actually own two irons -- My mother’s ancient one & a newer model she brought us so each of our daughter’s could press cookies with her at the same time back when they were about 5 & 6. I have heard regular waffle irons can be used instead, with minor tweaking to amount of batter & cooking time based-off your iron’s size.

Our 'i Tres Grandi' Deluxe Baking Extract makes it easy to get your flavors on point!

Shop our small Batch "Big Three" extract

Truth be told, it wasn’t just in springtime we’d get these cookies -- Aunt Pipey ALWAYS had stacks of pizzelles [& usually a cake of some kind] waiting for us in her immaculate kitchen. That paired with an enormous patch of mint off her back doorstep are two of my fondest memories of her. And really, why not enjoy them all year? They are easy to make, they keep really well, & are a perfect compliment to a cup of tea. This basic recipe is very versatile as well. They can be stacked with layers of cream to make ‘cakes’, & the warm cookies rolled into cones or ’cannoli’ shells to hold fillings, even shaped into small bowls for ice cream. Change out the baking extract used from my Italian blend to Cardamom & make the Swedish treat Kremekake -- you’ll be happy you tried it! Let’s get started!

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Aunt Pipey’s Pizzelle Cookies

6 large eggs  
1 ½ cups sugar  
1 cup butter, melted  
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour  
4 tsp baking powder   
2 TBS ‘i tres grandi’ extract
or roughly 1 ½ TBS anise + 1 tsp lemon extract + ½ tsp orange extract
[extra butter or non-stick spray for iron]

Preheat your pizzelle iron while mixing the batter. Melt butter & cool slightly. In a large bowl, beat eggs adding sugar gradually & beating until smooth. Add cooled butter & baking extract/s. Sift flour & baking powder into the egg mixture, stirring until incorporated.  Lightly coat your preheated iron with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Drop about 1 tablespoon of batter onto each plate in your iron [batter amount can vary based off size of your iron’s plates] & close. Bake until golden, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. [again, it depends on  your iron] Place warm cookies on a cooling rack [or wrap around dowels to make cones/cannoli shells] & repeat working through remaining batter.
​Once they are cooled completely, you can dust them with powdered sugar if you like -- we usually dust half & leave half plain.
This recipe makes about 36 cookies.

I recommend greasing even the newer, non-stick irons for best results. □: unsophisticook

Pizzelles are fabulous plain or dusted with powdered sugar. □: culinaryhill

There you have it! Such a simple recipe & process with such pretty & tasty results! Feel free to change up the flavor by playing with your extracts -- these are lovely made with vanilla, almond, or lemon extract as well -- & really quite delicious with our Buttercup extract too!  I have such fond memories of making these with my grandmother & my mother, & of watching my girls make them with my mother too. It makes them all the sweeter for me.
I hope you enjoy these Pizzelles as much as we do! Until next time -- STAY SAFE!