These Gingerbread Pizzelle are fragrant with spices and molasses which make them perfect for Christmas gift giving. While Pizzelle are often flavoured with anise, lemon or vanilla in their home of Abruzzo, the easy batter can be adapted to whatever takes your fancy.
Lemon Pizzelle are among my favourite but by far the most unusual flavour I have tried would have to be Sweet Potato Pizzelle. However these Gingerbread Pizzelle are so delicious and festive, it’s all I want to be nibbling on at this time of the year. Simplicity is the beauty of the Gingerbread Pizzelle batter but the finished cookie looks exquisite.
Pizzelle are not a cookie I grew up with but when I saw these gorgeous things on US food blogs I just knew it would be my type of cookie. I read all I could about these cookies and the irons that create the thin, crisp wafer. When I blogged about them in my very early days of blogging, I innocently reworded someone else’s description of pizzelle. That caused quite an upset with that particular blogger who called me some terrible names and threatened legal action! So nervous and panicked I was that I immediately pulled down the entire post. It just disappeared. Now I think back and realise how awful one blogger was to another. It’s one of the very few down moments in my 8 years of blogging. Just be kind to one another. It’s that simple.
It seems like at this time of the year we are all super busy and we overload ourselves with expectations. What’s important is just to be kind to one another. It will make all the difference to someone and you may not even know it.
Merry Christmas!
Baci,
Marcellina
Gingerbread Pizzelle
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- ⅔ cup / 140g white sugar
- ½ cup /125mls light olive oil
- 2 tablespoons / 40ml molasses
- 1 ¾ cup /280g all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- icing (powdered) sugar for dusting
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk eggs and sugar until combined.
- Whisk in oil
- Add in the flour, salt, vanilla and spices
- Heat the pizzelle maker on stove top, or if electric plug in unit.
- Drop tablespoon of batter onto iron and bake until golden light brown in colour.
- Remove and cool on wire rack.
- Dust with icing (powdered) sugar.
- Store cooled cookies in sealed containers
Hello and Seasons Greetings from. Boston, MA, USA. I want to try these delicious looking Gingerbread Pizzelle. I notice you use olive oil instead of butter. Is there any reason? The reason I ask is because all the recipe’s I have seen state not to use oil. I do have light olive oil.
Thank you in advance.
Hello Peg! How lovely to hear from you! Traditionally Pizzelle are made with oil and not butter. Probably because pizzelle originate in Abruzzo which is in mid to south Italy. There it is more common to use oil in recipes. Whereas in the north where there are a lot of dairy cows it is more common to use butter. I like oil because it is convenient – no having to melt butter and letting it cool. However, in saying that, this week I made my first batch of vanilla pizzelle with butter and I really liked them like that. So, I think you could use either and I just may have to add a footnote to my recipe now that I have tried it. Oil is just easier, I think 😉
Best wishes to you for Christmas and the New Year from sunny North Queensland! Baci xx