Libby Klein I got myself a new toy. A Pizzelle iron. I've always wanted one but never took the plunge until now. Alton Brown would call this a unitasker. Unitaskers are bad. Then I saw a recipe for [something top secret for a future post] and I was intrigued.
Gluten Free Pizzelles
*This requires the use of a pizzelle iron
Ingredients
1 stick of butter, melted and
cooled
3 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon anise extract or ½ teaspoon
anise seeds
1 ¾ cups gluten-free flour that
contains xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
Directions:
Melt butter and set aside to cool.
Beat the eggs and sugar until pale yellow. Add the melted butter and the extracts. Beat until blended.
Combine the flour and baking powder and whisk together.
Add to the wet ingredients and only mix enough to combine.
Fold the rest of the way while scraping the sides of the bowl. Set aside and
this batter will thicken while you heat your pizzelle iron.
Drop 2 Tablespoons of batter just slightly north of the center of the pattern.
Press the iron lid down but not too aggressively. You don’t want it squelching out the sides.
Let the cookies bake about 2 minutes. You can peek and check on them and leave them on the iron until they are golden brown. The first ones were too small. Now I can't even get them to be round. I'm having a lot of trouble getting the perfect shape here. Maybe my batter needs to be a little thinner.
Remove them with tongs or a spatula and place on a cooling rack to firm up and get crispy.
I've got lots of shapes. None of them are right. The bottom two look kind of burnt. The picture on the booklet that came with the iron is mocking me. I'm starting to wonder why I even need to make Pizzelles? Can't you buy these in the store! Hopefully, I'll have gotten the hang of it before I make my super top-secret recipe next time.
Have you ever been irritated by a recipe that didn't turn out how you wanted? Let me know in the comments.
Poppy McAllister discovers that gluten-free Halloweens can scare up another case of murder in the latest installment of this delightful culinary B&B mystery series! - Kirkus Reviews
Poppy is none too pleased when her B&B is coerced into participating in the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour during Halloween season. Though her knack for finding dead bodies has given the place a spooky reputation, the Murder House is a completely undeserved nickname. At least it used to be . . .
While Poppy wrangles with some guests who can’t stop squabbling with each other—including a paranormal researcher, a very quirky pet psychic who freaks out her portly Persian, and an undercover tabloid reporter eager to catch her staff in a lie—one of them winds up facedown in a plate of tiramisu. And now she has bigger worries than getting her house TP’d . . .
Includes Recipes from Poppy’s Kitchen!
classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/
Perhaps GF baking is different, but when I make pizzelles it's more of a sturdy dough than a batter. Think chocolate chip cookies rather than pancakes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe, my friend is both lactose and gluten free but since there's lactose free butter now,
I will attempt to make these for her!
That may be exactly what was wrong with these. I'll adjust the recipe to make the batter a little thicker next time. Thank you for the tip.
DeleteOh, the mention of pizzelles brought back such sweet memories! Being an old Army brat living on base, we lived by just about every nationality you can think of. One was an Italian lady that made these and shared with us kiddos often. :)
ReplyDeleteOne recipe that irritated me big time was a cake I made that was the cover of a national magazine back when I first got married. You would think that a cover cake would have been proof read over and over to be correct. Well, I went way out and bought all the ingredients to make this "special" cake for a holiday. It was big flop taking horrible. At the time I wasn't experienced enough to have known reading the recipe that something was off. Seems there was way too much flour in the recipe. The next month way back in the ads in the back of the magazine, they printed a correction. Well, that was way too late for me!
Think we have all made those "what in the world happened" recipe. I've made my share, but thankfully now a seasoned baker, I can often time figure the mistakes out or add a flavor or ingredient before it's a total disaster. Although we strive for "pretty", for me it's more about taste that makes it a hit. So as long as your pizzelles tasted good, then you knocked it out of the ball park!
2clowns at arkansas dot net
Ugh. I hate it when you work hard on a special recipe and it doesn't turn out because of an error in the recipe. I've had that happen to me before too. Thank you so much for the words of encouragement.
DeleteCheers, Libby -- Applause!! My beloved late Aunt Mary made pizzelles every holiday. Love the cookie, and I never imagined a gluten-free version would be possible. Using the pizzelle iron is tricky, that's true. You have to sweet talk the thing, assessing the amount of batter and cooking times, but when you get into the groove, it's worth it. (At one time, our family even used an old-fashioned press iron, the kind you hold over the flame of a gas stove. Eesh, electric is better. :)) Either way, the homemade versions are so much tastier than store bought, so hang in there…and major props for showing us the gluten-free way.
ReplyDeleteAs far as recipes that don't work out, I've had plenty. One of the worst was a completely inedible low-fat muffin. And then there was the Key lime pie that I baked without the proper amount of eggs. It came out as Key lime soup. I could go on, but you get the picture. And thanks for the happy Italian cookie memories! ~ Cleo
What a cool story! I didn't even know they made pizzelle irons for a gas stove. But I guess that makes sense. Electricity is much newer than the pizzelle! I am giggling about your low-fat muffins. I've thrown away many attempts at diet recipes.
DeleteThanks Libby, I am obviously now be googling best pizzelle irons!
ReplyDeleteEarly on in my celiac diagnosis I tried to make homemade tortillas. I bought the press and made the recipe but the outcome was disgusting. I couldn't bring myself to throw it out so I ended up using the rock hard discs underneath meat, salsa and cheese baked in the oven. It was edible but I didn't want to have it again.
Looking forward to reading this book.
Sandi
Oh, Sandi - those tortillas sound horrid! I've had the same experience many times from GF foods I've BOUGHT! I'm very thankful for all the delicious gluten free foods on the market these days.
Delete^^^ That last comment was from me.
DeleteI love anise pizzelles. I know there is an art to using the irons and I think it just takes time. Personally I prefer cookies and pizzelles that look homemade and I think yours look great. Thank you for the recipe. aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, April. They sure taste amazing.
DeleteThere is a fine art to food photography. First you have to have the recipe perfect and then you have to plate it and light it just right.
ReplyDeleteConsider this batch your experimentation phase while you work up to your super duper recipe!
Just a thought, but have you compared flour to liquid ratios in other recipes? Other suggestions of the amount to put in the press and how long to cook it? (All allowing for the uniqueness of GF.)
DeleteThank you so much, Libby. I haven't compared the ratios. And since this was my first time making pizzelles, I didn't know what to compare them too. The finished product was definitely right. The cookies had the perfect texture and you'd never know they were gluten free. I'll have to play around with the batter to make it thicker next time and see how they turn out.
DeletePizzelles are my favorite! I did find that between 45 seconds and 1 minute were usually about long enough for each to be on my iron. While anise is my favorite, lemon or almond extract are tasty additions as well. I tried a chocolate variety once and found it did not work well, the batter was just too thick to get them crispy without burning them. Part of the beauty of homemade pizzelles is their unique shapes and sizes!! Looking forward to trying a gluten-free version. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYour suggestion to use almond sounds amazing. I may have to try that soon.
DeleteThanks for the recipe deborahortega229@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteThank you, Deborah.
DeleteAn easy variation on pizzelles is to make waffle cookies. You can use any sweet waffle recipe (GF or regular) and waffle iron. Let waffles cool and then dust with powdered sugar. I had an aunt who made these as holiday cookies and everyone loved them.
ReplyDelete