I experienced my first kitchen disaster in years this afternoon. CJC and I set out to make pizzelles with an old pizzelle iron I have stashed away in the cupboards but have never used before. It didn’t go well.
- number of recipes consulted to come up with the batter: 4
- times too thick the batter turned out to be: 3
- total number of times pizzelle maker opened: 16
- number to of times the top iron panel fell out of place: 15
- number of times fingers burned on pizzelle iron: 31
- number of edible pizzelles produced: 8
And here is a summary of the monumentally helpful advice about pizzelle-making from my 89 year-old grandmother.
Grandmother: Pizzelles? You just have to mix up some batter and then pour it onto the iron. Each one only takes about 2 minutes. It really isn’t difficult.
Me: But how to do you mix up the batter? I followed a recipe, but mine doesn’t look right.
Grandmother: You know. It’s just eggs, vanilla, butter, sugar, flour, … You just have to mix it up. You can add anise.
Me: Yeah. That’s what I used. What should the consistency be like? I think mine is too thick.
Grandmother: Oh, you don’t want it too thick.
Me: Do you think thinning it with milk will work?
Grandmother: You don’t want it too thick.
Me: And another thing. It keeps sticking to the iron. Should I use some butter to grease the iron?
Grandmother: That’s not good. You don’t want them to stick.
Me: Butter?
Grandmother: You can’t have them sticking.
Me: Ok. Thanks.
