Name: Pizzelle Waffle Cups
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 stick butter (113 g); 3 large eggs at room temperature; 6 Tablespoons granulated sugar (75 g); 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1 cup plus 6 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (180 g); Cooking spray for the pizzelle iron

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These pizzelle waffle cups, crispy and beautifully patterned from the iron and perfumed with vanilla are the perfect accompaniment for all your ice cream.

I always make these with my younger kids’ baking class on the last day of school, and they are a favorite. Cones are fun to make, but these are both easier and quicker. My students inevitably fight over who gets to form the next pizzelle as it comes hot off the iron.

You don’t have to use them just for ice cream either. Make up a stack and use them for a pretty presentation of your favorite fruit salad or fruit crisp. Because you can make them up pretty quickly (especially with a second set of hands), you can serve a lot of people without too much extra work.

And these are so so much more interesting in texture and flavor than a store bought waffle cone. They’re much less prone to breaking and because they’re cups, it’s less likely you’ll topple your ice cream into the grass.

So heat up your pizzelle iron, and let’s make some waffle cups.

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Pizzelle Waffle Cups

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stacks of pizelle cups and forming cups with ramekins

What is a pizzelle?

Pizzelle are an Italian cookie baked on a special patterned waffle iron about 4-5″ across. As flat cookies, they’re popular at Christmas.

Hot cookies can also be formed into cones or cups like we’re doing here year-round to hold your favorite ice cream or spoonable desserts.

The one annoying thing about this recipe: the search for the perfect waffle iron

Unfortunately, you need to have a pizzelle iron for this recipe. I say unfortunately because it’s a bit of a uni-tasker. I am philosophically opposed to gadgets that do one dang thing in the kitchen. Still, sometimes that one thing a uni-tasker does is so unique, I break. I use my iron for regular pizzelle, these cups, waffle cones as well as Stroopwafels. You can only do so much!

Since I bought my iron, the prices have gone up. I paid about $30 for mine. Genuinely, I would hunt around on the Ebay machine or Mercari and see what you can find.

What you want is a thinner pizzelle iron. I’m convinced after working with mine, that mine is just a hair too thick. It’s still workable, but probably just barely. It’s awesome for stoopwafels. If you’ve ever read any of Regula Ysewijn’s books, she has, to her own admission a shocking number of waffle irons. Where she lives in the Netherlands, there’s so many different types of these kind of waffle cookies, she’s collected all of them, most of them vintage.

Here’s my ideas for waffle irons:

Cucina Pro double pizzelle iron (this is one I use). It’s sturdy and has good consistent heat.
Cucina Pro single pizzelle iron: I would choose this one if I was short on space and to save money.
Palmer thin pizzelle maker: this is the splurge iron. It’s made in the USA and has been for decades. I will keep stalking this iron on Ebay until I get a price I’m happy with. I’ve lost a couple auctions trying to get one of these [insert grumpy face here]. If I had an ice cream stand at a farmer’s market, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up one of these.

Ingredients for pizzelle waffle cups

Butter: melted
Eggs
Sugar: granulated
Vanilla
Baking powder
Flour: all purpose

Process for making waffle cups

Melt the butter.
Whisk eggs, sugar, vanilla, and baking powder together.
Stream in the butter while still whisking.
Fold in the flour.
Bake scoops of the batter on the hot pizzelle iron.
Mold the hot cookies on upside down cups with a second cup on top to make the cup shape.

Tips to get the perfect shape from your pizzelle waffle cups

You will likely break a few of these cups. It’s also likely that you’ll try a bunch of different shaped cups before you find a combo that works. Don’t get discouraged. After a few cookies, you’ll get the hang of it. If I can teach 9 year olds how to do this, you too will get there.

Pay attention: this is an on-your-feet operation. The cookies bake quickly and you need to hustle to get them formed into cups before they cool. You don’t need to rush, but don’t try and do something else at the same time.
Enlist a kitchen helper: It can be tricky to form 2 cookies at a time, so an extra set of hands is invaluable. Recruit a kid helper–it won’t be hard; forming the cups is really fun, and they’re promised fresh cookies.
Just barely golden, not brown: if the cookies overbake, they will be hard to form into a cup. I give them just 1 minute. If yours aren’t as crisp as you’d like, you can place the formed waffle cups into a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes after you’ve made all the pizzelle.
Choose the right cups: Don’t buy anything special. Look in your house. Narrow-bottomed cups, preferably rounded at the sides are great here. What you want is 2 cups that nestle inside each other. Small Mason jars and ramekins are perfect. At the church I teach my baking classes at, we use those tulip shaped plastic ice cream cups; these are awesome. Here, I’m using a random Crate and Barrel ramekin-sized cup and Pfaltzgraff Yorktowne custard cups specifically. Experiment with what you have.
Light hands!!: When you take the hot cookie and put it on the bottom of a cup, it’s tempting to slam the second cup over it and press as fast as possible. If you do this, you WILL get cracks or rip out the bottom of the cookie entirely. Instead, hold the second cup over the cookie and let the weight of the cup press down on the cookie to form it into a cup.
Mind the iron: pizzelle irons get HOT. I have a nasty scar on my left arm from reaching over the iron to place a cookie. Don’t be like me. Pay attention to where your iron is at all times, so you don’t burn yourself.

Pizzelle Waffle Cups

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Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: about 18 cups

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Description

Edible bowls are just fun, and these ones, crisp from the pizzelle iron and perfumed with vanilla are ideal for a scoop of fruit salad or ice cream for the perfect summer dessert.

Ingredients

Scale

1 stick butter (113 g)
3 large eggs at room temperature
6 Tablespoons granulated sugar (75 g)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plus 6 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (180 g)
Cooking spray for the pizzelle iron

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Instructions

Plug in your pizelle iron to heat up.
Place 4 small ramekins or cups on a sheet tray. This will be your zone for forming the cups. Set the tray close enough to the iron to reach but away from the edges of the hot iron.
Melt the butter in a small pan, then set aside to cool briefly.
Whisk the eggs, sugar, baking powder, and vanilla in a bowl until the sugar is mostly dissolved and the eggs are foamy. This should take about 2 minutes.
Pour in the butter while you keep on whisking the eggs. Whisk until smooth.
Quickly fold in all of the flour just until the flour disappears. You will have a fairly thick batter.
Spritz the cooking iron with a little bit of cooking spray.
Use a small cookie scoop to place a ball of batter in the center of the circle on each side of the iron.
Close the pizzelle iron, making sure that the metal ring is locked onto the handle.
Cook for 1 minute until the waffles are lightly brown.
Immediately remove the pizzelles and transfer them to the bottom of upside down small cups. Press a second cup lightly over each pizzelle. Let the weight of the second cup do most of the work of forming the hot cookie into a cup. If you press too hard, you will get cracks or rip the bottom out entirely. After a couple rounds, you’ll get the hang of it and you can form cups while you bake the next batch on the iron.
Cool cups on a wire rack.
If the cups aren’t as crispy as you’d like, place the finished cups on a sheet tray and bake them in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes.
Pizzelle are best the day that they’re made, so scoop up your favorite ice cream into them pronto!

Notes

4 hands are better than 2: Forming the cups 2 at a time can be a little tricky. Enlist a kitchen helper! It won’t be hard to recruit a kid: the promise of fresh pizzelle is irresistible, and forming the cups is really fun for kids. If you are working by yourself, I’d personally bake just 1 at a time. Yes it’ll take a little longer, but you’ll get better results.
Don’t let things get off kilter: Because the weight of the iron presses evenly down, make sure that your dough ball is dead on center in each circle. If it’s off, the pattern on the waffle will also be off-center. You’ll still have delicious waffle cups, but they won’t be as pretty.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Additional Time: 0 hours
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Category: Ice Cream
Cuisine: Italian