Pizzelle
Last year, I started a tradition of baking myself something sweet for my birthday. As much as I love a good birthday cake, I think it's a lot more fun to make a dessert that can be packaged in a cute gift bag or container and shared with friends and family.
The day before my birthday, I set out to make Espresso Caramel Bars from Giada De Laurentiis' newest cookbook, Giada at Home, but despite following the recipe to the letter, I had a total Dessert Disaster and I had to throw everything out. After cleaning up the Big Mess in my kitchen and taking a breather, I thought that it would be fun to make pizzelle for my birthday treats. I have a wonderful recipe for them courtesy of Peter's Aunt Gloria and I have a pizzelle iron that was given to me and Peter as a Christmas gift from Peter's mom a few years ago.
I didn't eat much less know about pizzelle until I married Peter. And even after being introduced to this delightful cookie, I thought they were an Italian-American invention--something created in America by Italian immigrants. But it turns out that pizzelle originated in the south-central region of Abruzzo and date back to the 8th century. In fact, they are the oldest known cookie, and they have a very interesting history. Two small towns in Abruzzo claim to have invented pizzelle: Salle, located in the province of Pescara, and Cocullo, located in the province of L'Aquila.
In Salle, a festival is held every July to honor the feast day of Beato Roberto, a 12th century monk. When the festival begins, food is brought to the town piazza and there is a small procession in which celebrants suspend pizzelle from tree branches and carry them through the streets as an offering.
In the medieval town of Cocullo, pizelle are eaten during the yearly "Festival of the Snakes", which is also known as the feast day of San (Saint) Domenico. This 11th century Benedictine abbot is known as the patron saint of Cocullo, and legend has it that he purged the snake-infested fields surrounding the area by charming all the snakes into submission with his flute and rendering them harmless. For the local population of this era, snakes (as well as wolves) represented the uncertainty and anxiety of their existence. Therefore, the community adopted these religious rites in order to symbolically protect themselves and their surrounding area with Saint Domenico's healing power.
The tradition of commemorating Saint Domenico's life-saving miracle for the people of Cocullo holds strong to this day. This curious festival lasts for two months, beginning on March 19th, the feast day of San Giovanni (Saint Joseph), when the serpari (snake handlers) of Cocullo begin trapping (non venomous) snakes and keeping them in cages where they are fed milk and crusca, a type of bran. The end of the festival on the first Thursday in May is marked by an 8AM revelry call followed by a mass that is broadcast over loudspeakers for the entire town to hear. After the mass, a large wooden statue of San Domenico is then draped with the well-fed and cared-for snakes and carried throughout the streets of Cocullo, where locals and tourists alike approach the statue, touch it and say a prayer. The snakes are then released back into the fields and the festival continues with street shows various other entertainment.
While doing online research about the Festival of the Snakes, I came across a great blog called Rubber Slippers in Italy, written by Rowena, an American from Hawaii living in Italy. She was fortunate to attend the Festival of the Snakes back in May 2008, and you can read her post and see some great pictures here (you will need to scroll down a bit to reach the post).
Image copied with permission of Rubber Slippers in Italy
Despite the debate as to where pizzelle originated, the one thing that is agreed upon is that pizzelle are made to mark a festive occasion. They are made primarily for Christmas and Easter, and remain an important part of celebrations not only in Italy, but also in the United States, thanks to the many Italian immigrants who continued the Italian-born tradition of pizzelle-making, and passed it on to the next generations. I feel very lucky to have had this tradition passed on to me by Peter's mom and Aunt Gloria, both of whom had the tradition passed on to them by their respective family members.
If you own a pizzelle iron, you may already know how fun and easy these are to make. A simple batter consisting of melted butter, vanilla extract, eggs, sugar, flour and baking powder comes together quickly with an electric mixer and then sits for five to ten minutes to allow it to rest and thicken. Then heaping tablespoons are dolloped onto the lower jaw of the hot pizzelle iron and pressed into shape after closing the iron shut so it can work its magic. What emerge are two golden, delicately embossed sweet discs that cool and crisp up in a matter of minutes. Pizzelle can also be shaped into cones or edible bowls right after they are cooked, when they are still soft and pliable. And they are incredibly versatile--you can add a number of different flavorings to the batter, dip the discs in chocolate, or use them to bookend an almost endless variety of fillings, Nutella and ice cream being my two favorites.
Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a tin of birthday pizzelle calling my name...
Pizzelle
Makes about 36 pizzelle using a pizzelle iron with 2 molds6 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powderSpecial Equipment:
Pizzelle Iron
Whisk the flour and baking powder together in a bowl and set aside.Preheat the pizzelle iron.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar until well combined. Add in the melted butter and vanilla extract and mix well. Add in the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Finish incorporating any of the flour mixture gently by hand if necessary, making sure not to over-mix. The batter will look runny at first. Allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes to let it thicken.
Using a tablespoon measure, drop the batter onto the molds and cook according to your pizzelle iron's manufacturer instructions--you usually cook them for 20-30 seconds, but all machines are different, so be sure to read the instruction manual carefully.
When the pizzelle are finished cooking, carefully lift them off the iron with a spatula and transfer to a cooling rack or shape into cones or bowls if desired. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
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Despite growing up with my grandmother making pizzelles every Christmas, I somehow never knew their background until I read your post! I love that you did all that research. And no wonder my grandmother made them all the time - she's from the Abruzzo region of Italy! Your post has left me craving pizzelles in a major way :)
I also inherited a pizzelle iron. Mine is from my husband's abbruzzesi grandmother and mother. They made them with anise as well as regular and they are delicious!
Thanks so much for stopping by my site and leaving a comment! I appreciate it :)
I love your pizzelles... My grandmother always makes them, and they are one of my favorites. I enjoyed reading your post, and love all of the beautiful pictures!
Wow Flavia! I am thoroughly impressed with your post here, and also for sharing a recipe because I've never been happy with the one that came with my pizzelle irons. Will have to make these today.
Again, I'm happy to have been of some assistance, and of course, as soon as you mentioned the tradition in Salle I simply had to look it up and have that event marked for some future exploration. I've found a website on abbruzzesi traditions and they had a fantastic photo of the Palmentieri, the folks with pizzelle suspended from those branches. It's beautiful!
www.unich.it/~stoppa/tradizioni/index.htm
www.unich.it/~stoppa/tradizioni/salle1.jpg