Cocoa & Cardamom Pizzelles

It’s snowing in my kitchen! Flurries of sweet and spiced snowflakes on the forecast for this weekend. # 202: Cocoa & Cardamom Pizzelles

Happy holidays! I don’t think we’ll see real snow in Oakland, so I went ahead and made my own this year.

I’m now the proud owner of a pizzelle maker (thanks Alyra & Ravi!) and I’m hooked. Not only does it make adorable printed cookies, it doubles as a waffle cone maker. All you have to do is mold them into a cone shape when they’re hot off the press, and voila! Fresh ice cream cones.

Have you ever had a pizzelle? I’ve heard rumor that they’re the world’s oldest cookie (honestly the best kind of rumor if you ask me!) But it might just be a claim made by Italian bakers, as it hard to prove that these delicious waffle cookies were the absolute first. Similarly to “pizza,” the base of the word comes from the Italian word for “round” and “flat.” It’s in good etymology company.

Peep the lil dent in the vanilla bowl – it picked a fight with my stand mixer and lost.

I made a few flavor swaps in the recipe:

Brown sugar instead of half the white sugar – same sweetness, deeper flavor!
Cardamom instead of the anise (anise is traditional, but I’m not the hugest fan of licorice flavor)
For the cocoa batter, I added a teaspoon of cocoa and teaspoon of espresso

My Christmas tree spatula is on it’s last legs and I’m very sad about it. It was probably supposed to be more of a decorative kitchen item but it’s helped me make four years of delicious Christmas treats and it will be greatly missed.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the glory of the Anamalai Cacao from Diaspora Co. It’s light and fruity and I may have stuck my nose in the bag for a full minute to breathe in the rich aroma when I first got it.

Not only does it taste divine, but the company has an amazing set of values and is proof that there are good people changing the world. The fact that it’s based in Oakland doesn’t hurt either! In the words of their founder and CEO, Sana Javeri Kadri:

“The future of our food system is BIPOC-led, equitable AF, and decolonizing every step of the way. Get on board.”

OoOo shiny!

The recipe gave a helpful hint: put the dough a little behind the center of the design to get a more even pizzelle! As the lid shuts, it squishes the dough forward – jussst enough to make a difference.

If you’re all about instant gratification, these are the cookies for you. Only 5 minutes to heat up the press, and a glorious 30-60 second baking time.

Hello tiny baby waffles!

Ok so I need more practice placing them in the press, but still very proud of this checkboard.

The longer you leave them in the press, the crispier they’ll get. If you’re curling them into ice cream cones, you’ll want to leave them in for closer to 60 seconds. That way when they cool, they’ll support a hefty scoop of ice cream!