Pizzelles II

I can’t believe it’s been four years since the pungent smell of anise permeated the house and screamed, “It’s Christmas.” Time flies when you’re having fun.

The ex got the pizzelle iron in the divorce. Good for him. It was perfectly seasoned after years of holiday cookie making.

I remember him standing at the counter in his red sweatpants pulled too high with a T-shirt tucked in making two pizzelles at a time for hours on end – a job not for this gourmandette. He gave them away as gifts, but kept a few to enjoy for weeks after the holiday.

But it was the smell of the anise hitting me in the face when I came home from work or shopping that I missed most, so I broke down and bought a new pizzelle iron. After all, why should he be the only one have the odiferous joy of a Christmas with pizzelles and a live tree.

Nix the live tree thing – too much work. It’s debatable if it’s good or bad for the environment to take a perfectly happy evergreen, chop it down, decorate it for a few weeks and then toss it out for the recyclers to pick up and dump in the ocean to become a fish habitat or on the beach to create a sand dune. Sand dunes? Don’t go there – I’ve had my fill of duneboggling.

So, instead of one live, messy tree, we have two fake ones. The 9-footer is covered with colored lights and Disney characters, while the 7-footer that used to be the “love” tree, now has white lights and elegant ornaments. I’m still looking for someone to take all the heart ornaments collected over the 30-year affair off my hands.

I digress, back to the kitchen.

So, I tried out my new pizzelle iron this weekend and it worked perfectly with no sticking. I still have to master a tablespoonful of the sticky batter so the cookies don’t flow out the side of the iron.

I tried two recipes, one that was my inspiration for buying the iron that was posted by my former editor who writes her own humorous food blog – Jersey Girl in the Kitchen. The other by the guy who used to fix stuff when it broke.

I hate to admit it, but the latter was better. Nothing great comes easy though. It required a trip to three pharmacies to find anise oil. Extract just doesn’t cut it for a real wannabe-Italian.

So, after hours of backbreaking pizzelling, which included licking batter off my fingers and numbing my taste buds, I now have to leave the house and come back in to smell Christmas.

Pizzelles
4 eggs
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 C sugar
1 T anise oil
1 C margarine, melted (do not use butter)
4 tsp. baking powder
1 T anise seeds
Beat eggs and gradually add sugar.  Beat until smooth.  Add cooled margarine, anise oil and seeds.  Sift flour and baking powder.  Blend into egg mixture till smooth.  Dough will be sticky enough to be dropped by spoon.  Makes about 40 pizzelles.