Anise Pizzelle — The Dough Is the Same, the Hands Are the Same

December. First Christmas season as married people. The apartment is decorated — tree, lights, the ornaments that now include a "First Christmas" ornament Megan bought that says "Mr. & Mrs. Kowalski 2024" and I pretend to find corny but actually love. The apartment smells like pine and cinnamon and the vanilla candle that is now in its third year and somehow still going.

We're trying. That's the word — "trying" — and it carries a weight I didn't expect. Every month is a held breath. Every week is a question mark. Megan handles it with the quiet determination of a woman who has decided something will happen and is willing to wait for the universe to agree. I handle it by cooking more, which is how I handle everything, and Megan has noticed because she said, "You're cooking twice a day now," and I said, "I'm processing," and she said, "With food," and I said, "How else?"

At the brewery, the holiday season is in full swing. The gift packs, the sour beer releases, the winter warmer, the taproom events. I'm working long hours but it's the good kind of busy — the kind where the work has purpose and the purpose has an audience and the audience comes back for more. The sour-cider collaboration launched and sold out in ten days. The head brewer said, "What's next?" I said, "More." He said, "Good."

Made Babcia's kutia and the makowiec and started the zurek starter for Wigilia. The rituals of December. The rituals that don't change even when everything around them does. I am married now. I might be a father soon. But the soup is the same. The dough is the same. The hands in the flour are the same. The humming is the same. Some things carry forward unchanged because they are the unchanging center of everything else.

I made the kutia and the makowiec this year the same way I always do — from memory, from muscle, from Babcia’s voice somewhere in the back of my head saying more poppy seed, less sugar — and when the kitchen finally settled into that warm anise-and-vanilla quiet, I made these too. Pizzelle aren’t Polish, technically, but anise is anise, and the smell is the smell, and when you’re building a first Christmas as a married couple you reach for every tradition that has ever felt like home and you pull it all in close. These are crisp and lacy and they smell like December is supposed to smell, and that was enough.

Anise Pizzelle

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons anise extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Instructions

1. Beat the eggs and sugar. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar until the mixture is pale and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes by hand or 1 minute with a hand mixer.
2. Add butter and extracts. Whisk in the melted butter, anise extract, and vanilla extract until fully combined.
3. Add dry ingredients. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt until a smooth, thick batter forms. It should be slightly stiffer than pancake batter — it will drop from a spoon slowly.
4. Rest the batter. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes while you preheat your pizzelle iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Lightly grease the iron with cooking spray or a thin brush of melted butter.
5. Cook the pizzelle. Drop about 1 tablespoon of batter onto the center of each pizzelle pattern. Close the iron and cook for 30–45 seconds, or until the steam slows and the cookies are golden. Cooking time will vary by iron.
6. Remove and cool. Carefully lift each pizzelle off the iron with a thin spatula and place flat on a wire rack. They will crisp as they cool — do not stack until completely cool or they will stick.
7. Dust and serve. Once fully cooled, dust lightly with powdered sugar if desired. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 95 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Carbs: 13g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 45mg