Pizzelle

        The Pizzelle maker has always been one of my best friends.  I use to make Pizzelles so much, that my mom's iron burned out and so she finally bought me my own Pizzelle maker when I was in college.  Pizzelle are an Italian Waffle cookie and are very traditional in the region my mom grew up in (Molise) along with other regions in Italy.  You can buy a pizzelle Iron in many different places, such as your local Italian import store (that is where mine came from), along with some department stores, and online.  

You can also make pizzelle's in different flavors such as Lemon, orange rum, chocolate, anise, and many other flavors.  I usually always make vanilla because that is my favorite, but feel free to substitute the vanilla extract. I put in with whatever extract you like best.  This recipe that I am sharing with you is my mom's recipe and it is to me by far the best and the design from the iron makes them look so pretty once they come out!

Ingredients:

* 6 eggs

* 1 cup of vegetable oil

* one cup of granulated sugar

* 2 tsp. of Vanilla extract (or whatever extract you prefer)

* 2 cup of all purpose flour

Procedure:

* Plug your pizzelle iron in.

* In a large mixing bowl whisk, eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla

* Add flour and mix well with a whisk

* Next, get your work area ready by having a flat cutting board ready for you to lay the pizzelle's on

* Once iron is hot (it heats up really fast), drop a large teaspoon full of batter into each waffle section.

~*~TIP~~*~ Do not put too much batter in or else it will over flow!

* Tightly shut the iron and let cook until a light golden brown (about 40-45 seconds)

* remove with a fork and lay onto a board to cool for a few seconds.

~~*~NOTE: The pizzelle are soft when they first come out, but harden right away while they cool.  

* Repeat with the rest of the batter, as they cool stack them up

* You can also make fun shapes with them such as a cannoli shape, waffle iron shape, or other shapes by folding the pizzelle as soon as they come out of the iron.

* When done, I sprinkle powdered sugar over the top and they look like snowflakes!

ENJOY!