Oh so many years ago (almost 11, to be a bit more exact) my husband and I received a Pizzelle maker as a wedding gift. For whatever reason it was not oft-used, but I brought it out the other day to make vanilla-lemon pizzelles and was reminded of how super easy it was to make a delicious, and beautiful, treat to pair with coffee or tea. Fast forward a couple days to a snowy Saturday morning and the kids and I decided to experiment with another pairing (not because the lemon wasn't delicious, but because.... Pizzelles) and we landed on chocolate/orange. OK, friends, in some ways this is not the best recipe to share with you because you DO need a pizzelle maker to actually make them, and sometimes it's just too much to have to have ONE MORE kitchen appliance, but.... this is a good one. OK, this recipe comes, with just a few modifications of my own, from the VillaWare Prego Pizzelle Maker instruction book. This pizzelle maker came from Williams Sonoma (my favorite kitchen store) and while they no longer carry this same brand, they do have on offer.
INGREDIENTS
3 eggs, room temperature 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted and cooled 1 tsp. vanilla
4 drops Lemon essential oil (for vanilla-lemon pizzelles) 1-3/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
FOR CHOCOLATE-ORANGE PIZZELLES *4 drops Wild Orange Essential Oil INSTEAD of Lemon Essential Oil *3 tablespoons raw cacao (or chocolate powder) *3 additional tablespoons sugar added with the eggs and sugar in step one
In a mixer (I carried the KitchenAid up from the pantry for this one) blend together the eggs and sugar (if you're making chocolate-orange pizzelles, be sure to add the 3 extra tablespoons of sugar in this step), . Then add the butter, vanilla, essential oil and finally, the remaining ingredients that you've already mixed together in a separate bowl. Your batter will be thick, and may necessitate using two spoons to scoop and then push the batter onto the hot plate of the pizzelle maker.
Friends, one of the things I love about making pizzelles is that it's super easy, is quick (a set of two pizzelles takes about 30-40 seconds to cook), and is truly a nice treat if you have people over or if you're bringing something to a coffee or tea date with friends. Need a nice gift? Make up a batch of pizzelles, package them beautifully and gift the flavor of essential oil that you used to make them.
