Being Italian, registering for wedding gifts was a lot of fun because I had list of items I needed to make my family recipes. The item I was most excited about was of course, a pasta maker. But, another item I knew I had to have was a pizzelle press. If you have never heard of these cookies before, they are basically Italian waffle cookies. My grandma makes pizzelle cookies every holiday and they are so simple, but they are truly one of my favorite cookies! Now that my pizzelle press has been sitting in the closet for well over a year still in the box, I decided it was finally time to bust it out! My husband requested some traditional pizzelle cookies (a recipe I will post soon!), but I had another idea in mind, how about PUMPKIN pizzelle?! I was going to try to wait for fall to “officially” start before posting pumpkin recipes, but I am not a patient person, so here is the first of many pumpkin recipes I plan to post this fall!

I thought these cookies were pretty good, but they were a different texture than traditional pizzelle cookies. They were a little thicker because of the pumpkin I believe and seemed to require a little more cook time on the press, so they came out crunchier than the traditional variety, but this was all fine by me!

Pumpkin Pizzelle

Adapted from VillaWare

Makes approximately 40 pizzelle

Ingredients:

– 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

– 3 eggs, room temperature

– 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

– 3/4 cup granulated sugar

– 2 tsp. baking powder

– 1 tsp. vanilla extract

– 1 tsp. anise extract (optional)

– 1/3 cup canned pumpkin

– 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

* You will need a pizzelle press to make these cookies (see link below)

1. In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In a separate mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar and add in the pumpkin puree. Add vanilla, butter, pumpkin spice, and anise. Add the flour slowly to the egg mixture. Your batter should be thick, but not so thick that you can’t drop it by a spoonful.

2. Heat pizzelle press according to it’s instructions (most likely set to medium heat). Drop batter by 2 heaping teaspoonfuls onto each mold of your pizzelle press. Bake until pizzelle turn a light golden brown color. If you want your cookies to be softer, cook them for less time. If you want them crispier, then cook for a little longer. I found that these pumpkin pizzelle needed to be cooked a little longer than traditional pizzelle. When finished, gently remove pizzelle using a spatula. Place to cool and harden on wax paper.

Notes: I use this pizzelle press, but there are so many out there!

Related posts:

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies Pumpkin Spice Meringue Cookies Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies