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| I typed up the recipe a couple years back, printed it, and then never sent it to my beloved family...forgive me? |
Ingredients:
--- 3 c. flour
--- 1 tsp. Baking Powder
--- 1/2 tsp. salt
--- 2 eggs
--- 1/2 c. vegetable oil
--- 1/2 c. maple syrup
--- 1 tsp. Anise extract
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Make a large well in the center.
In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, oil and syrup. Add extract, and whisk until blended. Pour into well in center of dry ingredients, and mix well.
Turn onto floured surface and knead, adding additional flour (if necessary) until dough is not sticky.
Cut into small pieces, roll into ropes, and shape as desired. (I make approximately 64 small cookies; if I want them to be about the size of Grandpa Joe's, I only make 32.)
Bake 10-15 minutes (15-20 minutes for larger cookies), until bottoms of cookies are browned. (See photos below.)
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| These are not quite as "done" as Grandpa's... |
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| Some of these are darker...I now know why they were always burned...it's hard to check the bottom of a hot cookie! |
If you are related to me, these are a delicacy. However, they will be much better if you let them get stale for a week or two first...even fresh, have a hot cup of coffee handy...these are "dunking" cookies! (They can also be choking cookies, if you take too big a bite without dunking!)
If you are not related to me, you may not understand. That's ok. But, if you have any Italian in you at all, or if you have a Grandpa Joe, you still might want to give them a try. They are something else, and every batch takes me right back to my grandparents' kitchen...with coffee percolating, sauce simmering, and water boiling on the stove for pasta that is just waiting for me to arrive.
That kitchen was a little piece of Heaven on earth for this granddaughter.
Anise! It's the flavor of our Italian grandparents!
ReplyDeleteWe always were on the search for good, strong anise flavoring for my Nana to make pizzelles. She used to buy it from the drug store, but still was dissatisfied. I discovered imported anise at Pennsylvania Macaroni Company in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, and it was perfect.
When I was a young girl, she had the type of pizzelle iron that was on long poles, that you held over the (burner) fire. I had to be careful not to put in too much batter. Thirty seconds on each side, and I think a teaspoon of better, and they were perfect. Someone later gave her an electric iron, which made 2 at a time, but they were not as thin. (Sometimes she would make chocolate batter, but that really gets me off track.)