These Italian waffle cookies — better known as pizzelle — are a cultural favourite in so many Italian households, including mine. They’re crisp, delicate, lightly sweet, and around here they disappear faster than I can make them. But the real magic behind these pizzelle isn’t just the taste… it’s the story.

A Mother’s Day Story Worth Telling

Do you ever feel like holidays mean more now than they used to?
This year’s Mother’s Day has been hitting me a little differently.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been working from home for 14 months — no meetings, no cafés, no real human connection beyond a screen. That quiet has made me think a lot more about my mom and the life she lived long before laptops and Zoom calls.

She worked from home too, but in a very different way. She spent her days in our basement, doing the bookkeeping on a typewriter, surrounded by nothing but silence… and a poster of Elvis Presley. (She loved him. I can’t explain it either.)

No internet.
No coffee dates.
No “quick breaks.”
Just her. And Elvis. Every single day.

But she was resilient — like most moms of her generation. She raised kids, managed a home, worked two jobs, and still made sure love was baked into everything she did.

That’s my mom on the left in this photo — taken when Steeles Avenue at Yonge Street was still a dirt road. She played the guitar. She moved to Canada at age 12. She learned English without an accent. She had the neatest handwriting you’ve ever seen. She was cool before cool was a thing.

And even though she wanted us to fit into Canadian culture, she never stopped cooking the Italian treats she grew up with. One of the recipes she made often — and the one I associate most with her — is pizzelle.

Why Pizzelle Matter to Me

My mom worked nights at Laura Secord making chocolates and days as a butcher at a grocery store. She didn’t have extra time, and yet somehow she always found the energy to make cookies for us.

The smell of pizzelle baking is one of the earliest memories I have of her in the kitchen.

When my friend Ruth recently asked for my pizzelle recipe, I pulled out my old copy, the one scribbled in my mom’s handwriting, and knew instantly that this recipe needed to be shared for Mother’s Day. It felt like the perfect way to honour her.

What Are Pizzelle?

Pizzelle are thin, crisp Italian waffle cookies made from a simple batter of eggs, sugar, flour, and flavouring (most commonly almond or anise). They’re cooked in an engraved iron that stamps them with beautiful patterns — flowers, snowflakes, or geometric designs.

They’re classic.
They’re timeless.
And they’re perfect for Mother’s Day.

This is my mom’s pizzelle iron (you can buy these at most Italian grocery stores and you can absolutely get it on Amazon here!). My mom even has her grandmother’s manual pizzelle maker – it’s not electric, it has long handles and is meant to be held over an open fire to “bake” the cookies.

What You’ll Need to Make Pizzelle

Equipment:

• A pizzelle maker (electric or over-the-fire style)
• Mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Cooling rack

Ingredients:

• Eggs
• All-purpose flour
• Granulated sugar
• Almond flour
• Almond extract
• Salt
• Baking powder
• Mild oil

Tips for Perfect Pizzelle

• Spray the pizzelle iron for the first few cookies.
• Expect the first one to be dark — you’re calibrating.
• Don’t overfill the iron; a teaspoon is usually perfect.
• Roll warm pizzelle around a dowel for cannoli-style cookies.
• Sandwich with Nutella, peanut butter, or a scoop of gelato for an easy dessert.

How to Serve Pizzelle

Pizzelle are fantastic on their own, but you can also:

• Fold them into cannoli shells
• Layer them with whipped cream and berries
• Crumble them over ice cream
• Dip half in chocolate and sprinkles
• Use them as the base for ice cream sandwiches

Even if you don’t want to try your hand at these, you can always buy the store bought ones and shape them yourself (you can read about that trick here)

Final Thoughts

Mother’s Day always reminds me how much of who I am comes from my mom — her curiosity, her resilience, her ability to stretch a single ingredient into something magical, and her belief that food is love.

So whether you make these pizzelle for your mom, your kids, or yourself, I hope they bring joy to your kitchen and remind you of someone who loved you through food too.

Happy Mother’s Day…
And mom, thank you for teaching me that all food is good food if it’s served with love.
xo

Italian Pizzelle Cookies

If you’ve ever had these Italian cookies (most grocery stores carry them!), you’ll know how addictive they are…super crunchy

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Ingredients

  

• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup mild oil (canola/vegetable/avocado)
• 1 cup ground almonds (almond flour)
• 1 tbsp almond extract
• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• cooking spray

Instructions

 

• In a medium bowl, beat eggs and sugar until combined; add oil and mix again
• Add in ground almonds and extract and blend again.
• In a small bowl, sift flour and baking powder together; add to egg mixture and mix well.
• Let the batter rest for a while and heat up your pizzelle maker. Spray the waffle iron with cooking spray and drop batter (by tablespoonfuls) onto the waffle iron trying to keep it into the middle and close the waffle iron and cook until the light on the waffle iron goes back on. 
• Open the waffle iron and pull off the cookies. repeat until all the batter is done.
• Store the cookies in an airtight container.

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