Pretty Cookies!

Roughly 2 and a half years ago, I went to my cousins bridal shower.  Someone got her a pizzelle press, and I exclaimed, "ooh, I love pizzelles!"  My grandma overheard, so when my bridal shower came around... guess what I got?  Thanks Grandma!  But with all the moving we've done in the past few years it's been neglected. Today I finally opened the box!  It came with a couple of easy to follow recipes, so here I am all ready to go:

 

The press is pretty easy to use, there's a little indicator light that signals when the cookies are done!  How great is that!  Unfortunately you can only make 2 at a time and need to stand around while they cook, but it's pretty great not having to worry about burning the entire batch of cookies!  Here are the first few beauties, below.  Also convenient is that you can refrigerate the batter (or so the recipe book says), so timing is pretty flexible.  I stopped half-way through, I'll finish making cookies some other time!  Like maybe in a few hours when I've eaten all of these? And maybe I'll dip them in chocolate... like Mike's!

I actually made the batter yesterday night, planning to cook them and just didn't get around to it, so I've already tried refrigerating the batter.  The texture changed enough that you could probably use the dough as regular cookie dough, rolling it flat and skipping the press... maybe just baking on a sheet like regular sugar cookies?  Feel free to experiment!    Here's the recipe I used, courtesy of Cuisinart:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted (i used salted... that's what i had!)
1 tablespoon anise extract (or vanilla, I did 1/2 and 1/2)

mix liquids and sugar, then add dry.  If using the press, rounded spoonfulls... if making without a press... who knows!  Experiment!  Makes 35-40 pizzelle.