Vanilla Bean Pizzelles

Pizzelles originated in Italy and were baked for celebrations. We carried on the tradition for the holidays but added our vanilla Beans and some anise. It's such a welcoming flavor and oh so pretty!

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
  
• 2 cups granulated sugar
  
• ½ pound unsalted butter, melted
  
• 1 tsp Rodelle Gourmet Vanilla Extract
  
• 1 Rodelle Vanilla Bean, scraped
  
• 1 tsp anise seed
  
• 1 tbsp anise extract
  
• 4 tbsp baking powder
  
• 7 cups all-purpose flour
  

Variation For chocolate pizzelles:

• ½-1 cup sifted Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa

Directions

• Preheat pizzelle iron. Coat with cooking spray and wipe off excess with a paper towel. No need to re-apply.
  
• Beat eggs and sugar. Add cooled melted butter, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, anise seeds, and anise extract.
  
• Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl and add to the egg mixture. Beat until batter becomes thick, about 2-3 minutes. It will have a dough-like consistency.
  Knead with your hands for a couple of minutes until the dough is smooth and has a sheen.
  
• Using your hands, roll into 1-inch round balls. Offset just above of center of the pizzelle iron grids.
  
• Close the cover of the iron and bake for about 45 seconds, or until golden brown. Remove from iron and place on a cookie rack to cool. Dust with powdered sugar.
• Powdered sugar (optional)
  

Variation:

• We divided the dough prior to kneading and added ½ cup sifted Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa to half the dough to make chocolate pizzelles.
  
• Sift in 1 cup of cocoa to the flour mixture if you want all of the pizzelles to be chocolate flavored.