The Seventh Wonder of The Waffle World - Pizzelle

I was filtering through the last 2 1/2 years of Blog posts yesterday morning and realized that I never finished the Waffle tour.  Oh, I covered Dutch Stroopwafel, Danish FlødeValfer (Sour Cream Waffles), PiskeFlødeValfer (Whipped Cream Waffles) and my Mom's Nutty Spelt Waffles.  I even tried to set the record straight about the dubious "Belgian" Waffle; promoting their true forms, being Brussels and Liège Waffles.  But I realized that I have missed a few "waffles" out there.  Isvafler being one of them (Danish Ice Waffles), along with Norwegian Krumkaker and the ever delicious Pizzelle of Italy.  All three of these waffles tend to be more of a cookie, like Stroopwafels, but they are waffles none the less.

Thus, I decided to tackle the Pizzelle today.  You will have to wait for Isvafler until the Marionberries come into season later this year.  (sorry)

Hailing from Abruzzo region of Italy, the Pizzelle (peet-ZEL-ey) is one of the oldest cookies in existence.  Sometimes they are called Ferratelle due to their being baked in an iron (Ferrium) press.  But "Pizzelle" seems to be the most common usage.  These delightfully crisp cookies are a traditionally flavored with anise seeds, though Lemon, Orange, Vanilla are pretty common nowadays as well.  Heck, you can even make chocolate ones, though I find it hard to tell when they are browned properly...  ;)

Me? I like a nice combination of anise and lemon...  Meyer Lemon that is.  YUM!

Because they are soft when first removed from the iron, they can be rolled around a form when hot and allowed to cool into their crispiness, retaining said shape they were formed into.  This is great if you have some licorice ice cream lying around, as they can very easily be rolled into a cone shape.  The perfect edible vehicle for your Gelato.

Pizzelle

4 large eggs
1 cup (8 oz) (225 g) Granulated Sugar
7 oz (195 g) Melted Butter
Juice and Zest of 1 Meyer Lemon (if using a regular lemon, use only half)
1 TB Anise Seeds
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt
1 3/4 cups plus 1 TB (8 oz) (225 g) AP Flour
2 cups (8 oz) (225 g) Cake Flour

Place Eggs and Sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer with a whisk attachment.

Whisk together until light and ribbony. (about 5 minutes)

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a glass pitcher or small saucepan and set aside.
Zest the Meyer Lemon, squeeze out the juice and combine in a small ramekin with Anise Seeds, Vanilla Extract and a pinch of Salt.

In a medium bowl combine the AP Flour and Cake Flour, whisking to aerate well.

Once the Egg/Sugar mixture is pale and ribbony, slowly pour the butter in a thin stream (You are trying to create an emulsion) with the mixer on medium-high speed.

Once you have added all the butter, pour in the Lemon/Anise Seed mixture and continue whisking on medium speed until well combined.

At this point, you should probably plug in your Pizzelle iron.
Remove the whisk attachment and replace it with the paddle, turn the mixer to low and begin adding the Flour mixture, a little at a time to prevent a Flour Bomb from exploding in your kitchen.

Once all the Flour has been incorporated, remove the bowl from the mixer stand and grab 2 spoons (Soup spoons that is)

 

To load up a Pizzelle Iron simply scoop up a heaping spoon of the batter.

Use the other spoon to scrap it off the first spoon and onto the hot iron in a single blob.

OR - You can use a cookie scoop... LOL

Close the iron and press lightly to spread the batter (I have to press on mine a little because the lid section isn't very heavy)

 This is what it looks like after the batter spreads. (Just so's ya know)

Allow the Pizzelle to "bake" for approximately 1 1/2 minutes until golden brown.

Remove carefully from the iron (They are very soft and bendy) and lay them flat on a cooling rack to allow them to crisp up (like tuile cookies)

Then kick back with a nice cup of Earl Grey and enjoy!

Mangia!!
~~

Morel of The Story - Mother Knows Best

This is, in essence, a guest post, by proxy. I guess that would be the proper term. Let's see if I can explain.

My aunt Delores is down from the Seattle area and we all had breakfast together this morning. Granted, I don't usually eat breakfast, other than a cup of coffee and maybe a piece of toast. Though I am fond of breakfast foods for evening meals. :) But it was a special occasion, and there were a lot of Half-Free Morels.

Which reminds me, I need to insert a tangential paragraph here. I have corrected the previous post, but I am going to apologize for feeding everyone a bit of misinformation. I referred to the mushrooms my Dad and I collected a couple of days ago as "False-Morels". This was incorrect. There are 2 kinds of Morel mushrooms. One is the prestigious fully attached cap, which includes the Black & Yellow Morels. (Of which we found only a few) Then there are the Half-Free Morels. Which includes the lion's share of the mushrooms we collected the other day.

The False Morel is NOT edible. OK, even that is somewhat misinformative, but they ARE dangerous to consume. They are somewhat popular in Scandinavian countries; but are usually boiled twice before cooking. Thus rendering their carcinogens inert. But they are still dangerous, as some people are more sensitive than others. So it's kind of like a crap shoot.

So to sum it all up......

• False Morels = Bad
• True Morels = Good Eatin
• Half-Free Morels = Good Eatin
• Shane not doing his proper research before posting = Bad (I have sent myself to my room to think about what I have done) ;)

Tangent over...... Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

So we had all these lovely Half-Free Morels that were just BEGGING to become breakfast fodder. I was in the mood for something like Mushroom Gravy over Buttermilk biscuits or a Morel Omelet or even a Fritatta. These ideas didn't go over to well. In the end they were simply floured lightly and pan fried to be served along with my mom's "Nutty Diane's Waffles".

Yeah, I pretty much got booted out of the kitchen this morning. I was a little dazed and confused at first, then I remembered that I had my camera, so I snapped photos while mom made her infamous Waffles and my aunt Delores fried up the Morels.

My only contribution to breakfast was the final assembly, though I was the only one who ate my Morels ON my Waffle. Everyone else covered their waffles with Whipped Cream and Huckleberries, then consumed their Morels on the side. I always gotta be different... LOL

Nutty Diane's Waffles (with Greens and Morels)

1 Cup Spelt Flour (you can use White Whole Wheat too)
1/2 cup AP Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 TB Granulated Sugar
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
2 Large Eggs, separated
1 1/4 cup Buttermilk
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 cup Flax Meal
1/2 cup chopped Walnuts

In a medium bowl, whisk the Spelt, AP Flour, Baking Soda, Granulated Sugar and Salt together.

Measure the buttermilk and add the vanilla.

Separate the eggs and whisk the yolks with the buttermilk.

Add the Olive oil to the buttermilk as well.

Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks, then set aside.

Whisk the Flax Meal into the Flour mixture.

Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

Then Fold in the Walnuts......

Finally, Fold in the Egg Whites.

Bake in either an American or Danish Waffle iron until the steam subsides. (I tried this a long time ago, in a Belgian waffle iron and it doesn't work very well.)

Place on a cooling rack in the oven at 175 degrees to keep warm while baking the remaining batter. (Unless someone walks by and steals your waffle while your trying to photograph it)

Normally, these are serves with Whipped Cream and Huckleberries or Maple Syrup, but today was a special day.

Fried Half-Free Morels

A bunch of Half-Free Morels
Flour
Kosher Salt and Pepper
Butter... Lot's and lots of buttah
Micro Greens

Wash and dry the Morels.

Mix a pinch of salt and pepper into some flour (yeah, this is pretty free form here) then simply roll each mushroom in the flour so you get a really light coating.
Fry in melted butter until golden.

Now, take a warm waffle and butter it well. (Yes, more butter)

Place a small bunch of Microgreens on top. (That's to kind of offset the butter)

Top that all off with a small bunch of those precious fried morel mushrooms.

Totally Delish. Very much along the venue of Chicken & Waffles. Only even more awesome! Crunchy, Nutty, Earthy yet Fresh tasting, thanks to the little bit of greens, all finished off with an elusive hint of sweetness.

Mangia!!
~~

Cream of The Crop - PiskeFlødeValfer for BakeSpace Challenge #15 (Strawberries and Eggs)

Cream of the Crop - PiskeFlødeValfer? or Danish Whipped Cream Waffles

It was only a matter of time before I revisited Waffleville again. Yes, I have one more for you. This is another Danish waffle, made in the same flower/heart iron,

but containing copious amounts of whipped cream in the batter. This creates a very VERY rich waffle. Quite delicious with Raspberries, ya know, that whole Danish thing, or Black Currant preserves and a sprinkle of confectioners' sugar.

But I am gonna throw a little spin on it this time... you see, it's also time for the BakeSpace Monthly Challenge!!! That's right, and this month's challenge is Eggs and Strawberries. The eggs were covered by the Waffle batter, so that was not the challenging part. I felt it was necessary to take the strawberries past the point of just chopping them up with a little sugar and dumping them on top of a waffle, with some whipped cream.. SO... I did a little flavor testing... Borrowed a little culinary flair from France and some Strawberry "know how" from Italy and combined Fraises au Vin Rouge (Strawberries in Red Wine) with Fragole all'Aceto Balsamico (Strawberries in Balsamic Vinegar). Which was all kinds of good, but I needed a twist... Something a little more unexpected. Black Pepper.

I have had black pepper on strawberries before, eons ago. I can't even remember who served them to me at this point, all I remember is that they were out of Balsamic Vinegar so they sprinkled black pepper on them. You see, black pepper, like balsamic, makes strawberries taste MORE like strawberries.... This is a good thing, especially in this day and age, with all the hybridization and genetically modified foods, that tend to lack any sort of actual flavor.

The reason I say this is that the strawberries that I ended up buying, were terrible. Awful, flavorless blobs with pithy hollow middles.

Compared to the strawberries of my youth, these were not even fit for jam. BUT.... A little Balsamic, a little Black Pepper and a little Pinot Noir.... Voila!!! They suddenly tasted amazingly delicious!!!!

So, here is my secret for awesome Strawberries... Try this on Strawberry shortcake, you will not be disappointed... Trust me... and always remember, the flavor of a berry is greatly compromised by cold. So ALWAYS let berries "warm" up to room temperature before serving.

Peppered Balsamic Pinot Noir Strawberries

16 oz Strawberries (hulled and quartered)
2 TB Honey
1 1/2 TB Balsamic Vinegar

Combine and let macerate for 30 minutes.


Pour off juice into a sauce pan (There will be about 3-4 TB) and add
5 TB Balsamic Vinegar
3 1/2 TB Sugar
5 TB Pinot Noir (Red Fruit and Low earth - light Black pepper on the finish - Like Rex Hill Kings Ridge 2006)

Simmer over low heat until it is reduced to a thick syrup (this takes awhile)

You should have about 1/4-1/3 the amount when you are done.
Let cool until it is only warm to the touch.

Hit the strawberries with several grinds of coarse black pepper.

Pour the syrup over the Strawberries,

cover and leave at room temp while making the waffles.

2 1/2 cups Self Rising Flour
4 TB Superfine sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Large Egg
1 Large Egg white
6 TB Whole Milk
5 TB Unsalted Butter – Melt, then cool
12 oz Heavy cream
1/2 tsp Mace

Sift the Flour into a bowl with the Sugar and salt

Add egg, egg white, milk and melted butter;

Mix thoroughly. The dough will look kind of like brioche

In a separate bowl, whip the cream with Mace to stiff peaks.

Fold whipped cream into the batter.

Let stand for 30 minutes.
Heat waffle iron.
Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter just off center of the iron towards the hinges. (The hinged back tends to push the batter towards the front of the iron)

Bake in Iron for 3-5 minutes or until G B & D or the steam stops rising.

Move cooked waffle to a baking sheet lined with paper towels in a 200 degree oven to keep warm, while cooking the remaining waffles.

Serve with Strawberries above, Raspberries and Confectioners' Sugar, Lingonberry Jam, Blackberries and Whipped Cream or Currant Preserves.

Mangia!!
~~

Stroop to My Level - The Stroopwafel

Yeah, it's time to travel to another part of the globe in the never ending quest for delicious waffles. Our journey, today, takes us to Gouda in the Netherlands. No, no, Gouda is known for more than just its delicious cheese. Oh yes... For it is also the home of the Stroopwafel. Which, in my opinion, is the bestest waffles EVER! (The Liege runs a REALLY close second).

What is a Stroopwafel? It is a very thin cinnamon waffle made from something that can best be described as a yeasted cookie dough. The hot waffles are split in two while still flexible, filled with a cinnamon molasses syrup (stroop). Oh Yeah Baby! It is then pressed back together and allowed to crisp up as it cools. Exquisitely delicious... Leave it to the Dutch to come up with something so decadently divine.

I have been wanting to make these for Eons, but a stroopwafel iron is a little hard to come by. At least on the Southern West Coast. Oh, they are available on Fantes.com for a small fortune, but I have never been able to justify the expense. Well, I found one, quite by accident, and I broke the cardinal rule for waffle iron purchasing:

"NEVER buy a plastic housed waffle iron, because it is incapable of getting hot enough to properly bake a waffle."

I can get away with following this rule, because I have no little ones running around that can get burned, just my own clumsy self. ;)

But I am digressing... What's so special about a stroopwafel iron...? Well the grid looks like this...

And much to my excitement, Rival is now selling one, and calling it a "Ice Cream Cone maker". Which is technically correct, since the pattern is the same as that of the Sugar cone (I have a feeling the Sugar cone was invented by a Dutchman, but I will have to research that).
I have noticed that things like this happen... Pancake puffs come to mind (which I will be posting about in the near future). I am sure you have heard or seen the Pancake Puff pan which became such a rage about a year ago. Can anyone say Danish Aebleskivers??? The darn thing has been around for centuries, but they gave it a new name and a commercial, and it becomes all the rage... LOL Life is funny.

Suffice it to say, that I now have a Stroopwafler/Sugar Cone Maker and for being plastic, it seems to work fairly well, except I have to hold it closed, because the lid plate isn't heavy enough to place enough pressure on the dough. This is something that I can work through. So without further babbling, I present ... Directly from Bowie, Maryland... Mrs. Watson's Recipe for Stroopwafels.

Nederlandse Stroopwafels

Makes about 32 pieces
(You will need a VERY sharp knife, preferably a fillet knife)

Wafel Dough:
3 TB Warm Water (105-115 degrees)
1 tsp Active dry Yeast
1 tsp Granulated Sugar
1 cup Unsalted butter
1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
Pinch of salt
1 TB Cinnamon
3 1/4 cups flour
2 Large Eggs

Stroop (Syrup):
1 TB ground cinnamon
1/3 cup Karo light syrup
2/3 cup Honey
7/8 cup Light Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
Pinch of Salt

Proof yeast in 3 TB water with 1 tsp sugar until bubbly.

Beat butter, 1/3 cup Sugar, Salt and Cinnamon, creaming until light.

Add the yeast, flour and eggs

mix with until crumbly.

Set the mixer aside and knead with your hands in the bowl until the dough holds together (it will kind of feel like sugar cookie dough)

Set in a warm place for about an hour to rise. (Don’t worry if it doesn’t look like it’s raising much, it’s a heavy semi cookie dough)

Meanwhile, make the syrup (stroop).
Heat Butter, Cinnamon, Corn Syrup, Honey, Salt and Sugar on stove in a small saucepan over low heat.

and cook slowly until thickened a bit (about 10 minutes).

Remove from heat, it will thicken as it cools, but still must be slightly warm and thin enough to spread easily.

If it cools too much, reheat gently; if it thickens too much, add a bit of Lemon Juice.
Heat your waffler.
Divide the dough into 32 pieces and roll them into balls

Place a ball in the waffle iron

Press down and hold it down for about 30 seconds.

Remove waffle, and with and extremely sharp knife, slice waffle in half, horizontally. Be quick, or the waffle will crisp up on you and all will be lost...

(They will be really hot, but you must be quick)

Spread syrup quickly.

Then press the two halves back together again and set aside to cool and get crispy.

Repeat with the remaining 31 pieces of dough.

Now the best part, eating a stroopwafel!!!
Place one over your cup of coffee to warm it back up.


Mangia!!!
~~