Vegan Pizzelle and Cannoli

If there was a defining cookie of my childhood, and of course there was, it was the pizzelle. Pizzelle, alternatively spelled "piazelle," "piazella," "pizzele," is pronounced "pit sel′" with the same "ts" sound found in the word "pizza." Pizza and pizzelle in fact share the root "pizze" which is the Italian word for round and flat, which, of course, they both are. My mother's Italian roots inspired her to regularly make this thin crispy cookie for me and my brother while we were growing up and it was a favorite. Big tins full of pizzelles were a standard feature of our snack reserves on long car trips and served as an unusual staple for the cookie jar at home. I can't remember though the last time I've even seen, much less eaten a pizzelle, but following a dream I had about Italian cookies, I just had to make some.

toasted green anise pizzelle

I called my mom to ask her to loan me her pizzelle iron so I could experiment. Originally, pizzelle were made at times of celebration in midland regions of ancient Italy by heating an embossed iron over open fire to bake the thin cookie batter. The early pizzelle irons were often decorated with a family crest on one side, but contemporary designs are more apt to feature floral designs on the front and a waffle weave on the back. Modern irons also bear a great resemblance to waffle makers, but with much more delicate and slim plates inside, and I wanted to use the same iron that had made the cookies of my childhood to produce a new vegan version.

vanilla pizzelle

Two things foiled me though as I pursued my cookie heritage: one was that my mom would not send me her pizzelle iron (professing that it was "too dirty and old," the other was that she expressed doubt in my ability to make vegan pizzelle. I wouldn't have been thrown by the doubt if it had come from anyone but my mother, an experienced pizzelle maker herself who also generally possesses greater faith in my abilities to do things than anyone else on earth (an admirable, if sometimes misguided, maternal quality). A few days later though, the first problem was resolved when a brand spanking new pizzelle iron showed up on my doorstep (not my familial pizzelle equipment perhaps, but whatever delusions I'd had about the grandeurs of making pizzelles on my mom's iron were quickly dispelled by the modern non-stick technology that this newer model had). The appearance of the pizzelle iron also resolved the foil of my mom's doubt too. Why else send me a pizzelle iron if deep down she didn't really believe I could turn out some egg and dairy free-versions of this time honored cookie?

chocolate pizzelle stack

Pizzelle are indeed time honored. Some culinary history resources indicate that pizzelle are the oldest known cookie on record. They appear to have been initially associated with the pagan "Festival of the Snakes," later known as the "Feast Day of San Domenico" in Abruzzo region of Italy. How in fact pizzelle came to be a feature of this festival, the feature of which was the procession of a statue (originally Apollo, later Saint Domenica) covered by live snakes, is somewhat mysterious, but the cookies were apparently popularly consumed during the festival. They also play an ancient role in Salle where people attached pizzelle to tree branches and marched down the street with them during a summer festival held to honor a twelfth-century monk. The pizzelle spread across Italy and inspired other thin waffle cookies like Belgian lukken (also called Nieuwjaarswafeltjes in Flemish, meaning basically New Year's waffles owing to their holiday association), the Norwegian krumkake, German wafflekekse and stroopwaffle as well as French gaufrettes.

chocolate hazelnut and cinnamon pizzelle

With such an enduring and wide-spread legacy, it's clear that there is something to the pizzelle: it's intricate and delicate, light and yet perfectly satisfying, gently crisp but not hard, flavorful and subtle. In short, was well worth veganizing. I began by compiling and comparing a number of pizzelle recipes. I was looking less for flavor variations than I was for variations in the core list and proportions of the ingredients (though there were some interesting alternatives to the traditional anise flavored pizzelle like orange rum, maple, and mocha, as well as other popular pizzelle flavors like almond and chocolate).

almond and amaretto pizzelle

Two distinct categories of recipe took shape: one turned out to owe more to the original midland recipe with a roughly 50% as much sugar to flour and a moderate 3-4 eggs. The other general category appears to be a Southern Italian variation on the traditional pizzelle. It calls for a great deal more egg (generally twice as many as called for in midland recipes) and also requires about 50% more flour. The sugar is however, generally reduced as a percentage in these recipes. It certainly seemed easier to approximate the texture of the traditional formula than the Southern one which called for so much more egg.

It took a couple false starts, but soon I was turning out perfect pizzelle in a variety of flavors and stocking up zip lock bags full of the cookies. So it didn't take long before I started wondering what else I could make to utilize pizzelle, and wouldn't you know? Italy provided just the perfect answer:

Grand Marnier accented faux ricotta in
chocolate hazelnut cannoli with cocoa nibs and supremed oranges

So while I may have rejected the Southern style of pizzelle, I turned to Southern Italy for dessert inspiration in the form of cannoli. Traditionally made from a fried pastry dough, cannoli shells have never seemed as delicious as they should be to me. They're enjoyably crisp, sure, but there's not much in the way of flavor. Pizzelle are quite malleable immediately after baking and my pizzelle iron came with instructions of use, suggesting that they be molded into little cups to hold ice creams or mousse, but it turns out that they can also be quite nicely rolled around a small cylinder to produce flavorful, crisp, light and uniquely beautiful cannoli shells.

assorted cannoli:
anise, vanilla, chocolate, chocolate hazelnut and almond with faux chocolate ricotta

My first thought for cannoli filling was a variation on the peanut butter white chocolate mousse that is used to fill cannoli in the Artful Vegan, which I'd never made but always wanted to. Sadly, try as I might, I could not get the mousse to set up sufficiently (don't worry though, I've got some more tricks up my sleeve with it). I went instead for a couple of variations on a traditional ricotta filling, using a mixture of extra firm tofu, lemon and a pinch of salt in place of the cheese as well as powdered sugar and vanilla and finally rounding out the flavors with liqueur and chocolate. Using a trick I picked up from Fran Costigan at the Natural Gourmet Institute, I blanched the tofu first to take down the beany flavor and it worked beautifully.

dipped cannoli ends:
cocoa nibs, chopped chocolate, hazelnuts and pistachios

My only experiences with cannoli in recent memory are with the vegan cannoli at Gianna's Grille in Philadelphia, which are a family tradition at Christmas, though they taste pretty much like a stick of shortening squirmed its way into a fried shell along with a sack of powdered sugar, so these were like a breath of fresh air. The pizzelle shells were delicate and crisp and really added flavor as well as texture to the cannoli while the filling was sweetly substantial and creamy. Cocoa nibs at the ends were my favorite overall, but then again cocoa nibs on pretty much anything at this point are my favorite.

chocolate faux ricotta with cinnamon in a chocolate hazelnut pizzelle

As a plated dessert, the chocolate cannoli are great with a little bit of fruit to play on the richness. Obviously, chocolate and hazelnut is an incredible flavor combination, but I've recently also been loving the addition of a little bit of spice and sour in there with cinnamon and orange additions.

whipped ganache filled almond amaretto cannoli

Though it's not at all traditional, I loved the chocolate in the ricotta mixture in my first batch of cannoli so I emphasized it even further with a really light whipped ganache filling for a second set of cannoli. Whipping ganache adds a lot of air and lightness to it, it's silky smooth and delicate, but holds its shape well and pipes out beautifully. Plus, dark chocolate encased in crisp amaretto scented pastry? Delicious.

vanilla pizzelle with whipped raspberry ganache

With a vanilla wrapper, the bittersweet chocolate ganache highlighted with raspberry juice (from de-frosted frozen raspberries) and studded with chopped dehydrated raspberries, this cannoli was probably nothing my Great Aunt Jay would have conceived of, but I bet she would have loved it anyway.

pink and green peppercorn ganache filled vanilla cannoli

This is another cannoli that may have given my Great Aunt pause, and maybe you're thinking for it'd be for good reason, but trust me on this flavor combination if you are at all a fan of spice with your chocolate. Chilies and ginger seem like common additions to chocolate now, but pepper has not been as greatly utilized though it has a nice controlled heat and complex bite that complements rich and fruity chocolates. A while ago I made an experimental pink peppercorn chocolate sauce for a vanilla pepper baked pear dessert:

vanilla bean and pink pepper baked seckle pear with
vanilla soy ice cream and pink peppercorn chocolate sauce

Ever since making that dessert, I've been meaning to experiment more with using pink peppercorn in chocolate desserts. Pink peppercorns are strikingly beautiful, which in and of itself calls out for greater use, but further, they have a great floral element to their peppery bite, which works well in desserts. Actually, pink peppercorns are not technically a peppercorn; they are actually the dried fruit of the Baies Rose from Brazil, which is why they do have the more pronounced floral flavor. So, to emphasize the peppery flavor in this cannoli I used green peppercorn as well.

chocolate cinnamon hazelnut pizzelle bowl with
chocolate hazelnut soy yogurt, citrus macedonia and cocoa nibs

Having reached a temporary fill with cannoli, I decided to jump the gun on ice cream weather and make the suggested pizzelle bowls. You'll need a very small bowl to get a nice shape on the pizzelle for this. I used a variety of soy sauce sized dishes to see what yielded the nicest shape. Filled with ice cream, fruit and, of course, cocoa nibs, this dessert had me wishing for summer already, enough with all the spring rain and chilly gray days, bring on the ice cream and the sunny summer days.

almond amaretto pizzelle bowl with
ginger soy ice cream, cinnamon and slivered almonds

With my dwindling reserves of Wheeler's ice cream, I used the spot-on ginger flavor along with the almond pizzelle and a little extra cinnamon to dust. I'll definitely be turning to my pizzelle iron this summer to make little cookie bowls like this for ice creams and mousse, fruit salads and maybe even savory versions to hold little salads as well. I couldn't be happier to have the pizzelle back in my life, it's a delicious and versatile vegan cookie--who would have guessed?

Traditional-Style Vegan Pizzelle

1/2 cup unsweetened soy yogurt
3/4 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup mild-tasting oil or margarine, melted and returned to room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon toasted green anise seed, ground

With a stand mixer or handheld, beat the soy yogurt and sugar together until well incorporated. Add the oil (or melted and cooled margarine) and vanilla, mix well. Sift flour and baking soda together and mix with the ground anise seed into the yogurt mixture. The resulting batter will be very thick, but will spread out on the iron when pressure and heat is applied. Follow instructions to bake on your pizzelle iron.

Variations:

For chocolate hazelnut, omit anise seed, decrease flour to 1 1/2 cups, add 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 1/4 cup ground hazelnuts or hazelnut flour, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder.

For amaretto almond, omit anise seed, add 1/4 cup ground almonds or almond meal and 1 tablespoon amaretto.