Making Pizzelles in my Vintage Apron

My sweet sister Pamela sent me this Pizzelle (a traditional Italian waffle cookie with decorative patterns) Iron as an early Christmas present.  I was a bit intimidated by this iron, thinking it must be very complicated to use but I happened to meet an Italian woman at a craft fair a couple of weeks ago and she assured me that not only are they delicious but really easy to make.  She also corrected my pronunciation of the treat...it's pronounced pitz-el-ee (yes, with a t).

So, having finished my shopping, wrapping and decorating, tonight was Betty Crocker time!  Here's the recipe:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 stick butter, melted & and cooled
1 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Beat eggs and sugar until well mixed.  Add melted butter and vanilla and beat until blended.  Sift together the flour and baking powder and add half of this to the wet mixture and blend well.  Fold in remaining dry mixture until just incorporated.  Let the batter sit for five minutes before using.

In the meantime, heat the pizzelle iron.  When the iron is hot (following iron operating directions for this), spray both sides of the griddle with cooking spray.  Place about 1 teaspoon of batter onto each pattern grid and bake until golden brown, about 30-40 seconds.  Remove cookies onto a paper towel until cool.

I found that dolloping the batter onto the iron was difficult because it is so sticky so I scooped it into a big baggie, cut a small hole and squeezed it onto the iron grids -- a poor woman's pastry bag and it worked great.

My sister warned me that the batter tends to stick and/or bits left over from previous batches can burn so I brushed the iron with a toothbrush between each batch.  Worked like a charm -- no sticking or burning!

After the pizzelles cooled I had to "trim" the edges by gently snapping off the excess cookie so that the finished product was neat and round.  Yum, I had to eat all of the excess!

And here I am, displaying the finished pizzelles, wearing one of my aprons, of course!  I made this apron from a 1950's Christmas tablecloth.