Mmmh, the pizzella, fantastic cake of Abruzzo! It looks like Belgian gaufre or American waffle. Kids love this cake, however it’s called, from the very first moment in which you are going to prepare it: it’s really a ‘festa’ in the kitchen!

First of all, you have to get the iron (“lu ferre”), which was once brought in dowry by the bride: in the noble families there was the coat of arms of the household engraved on it.  But today it is not easy to find a good quality one, as my friend Rosaria, native of Abruzzo, tells me. Anyway, if you travel in central or southern Italy, you can probably find it in a home store that still sells old stuffs: if you are lucky, you’ll find many shapes and sizes, so  you may chose your favorite one. But you can prepare a sort of pizzelle also placing a thin layer of dough in a pan.

You can start the preparation.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 8 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 tablespoons of sugar
• 150 gr. flour
• 1 organic lemon
• a pinch of vanilla
• jam or hazelnut cream

Now you can begin

Beat the eggs with sugar in a bowl. Better by hand: the electric blender would mix the dough too much, so it could  be less soft.

Then pour the oil and grate inside the lemon peel (only yellow layer…). Add a tablespoon of flour at a time, continuing stir the dough, until you have a thick creamy consistency. Now it’s time to add half a glass of liqueur, but for kids you can add a bit of vanilla.

Oil the iron and heat it on the stove. When a small wisp of smoke comes out from inside, the iron is ready. Open it and pour a big spoon of dough into the center of one plate; press the second plate for 2 or 3 seconds and then turn the iron on the opposite side. Wait about 15 seconds, then open and remove the pizzella from the plate.

Put a layer of jam or hazelnut cream on a waffle, and a second waffle as a lid.

Enjoy now your pizzelle with your grandchildren, a perfect cake for tea time, so yummy!

Here another recipe for tea time.