Grandma Zaccari's Pizzelles & Cannoli Filling

I am not a risk taker in life nor in baking so this venture is going to be a growing experience for me. I always stick to my few tried and true recipes that usually contain cream cheese such as those Cream Cheese Bars that everyone asks for the recipe and has trouble duplicating. So I have some hope and look forward to “baking” out of my box – ha ha. I am a creative person and really don’t get a chance to satisfy that need as a stay at home mom so I look forward to the blogging and ‘posing’ my goodies for pictures – darn wish I had a fancy camera! Someday, I will pursue my photography dream. My family looks forward to the sweets but I know that they secretly are wondering how all four of us are going to pull this off with busy schedules and unforeseeable circumstances. Heaven forbid my crew of three boys and a husband forgo a homemade dinner cause it’s my turn to bake. I predict that I will be the one losing the most sleep over baking and blogging. I look forward to the challenge and best part is I get to go through it with three amazing women who have taught me so much over the years. I suspect I will benefit from their baking successes and mishaps but hoping in the end we all will gain more than what we expect. Just think when our boys look back at 2010 they might say, “do you remember when our moms baked their way through the cookie cookbook?” Unknowingly, we are inspiring them to do something they desire to do someday just like Sharon & Theresa inspired us! Previewing my 19 recipes, I quickly realized that I will be using ingredients that I never worked with before and will be purchasing a few new baking essentials ~ always wanted a zester but never had a use for it and apparently a silpat is a must! Unlike Julie, she never had the privilege of asking Julia about her recipes but you bet I will be asking our expert bakers & authors where I can find Five Roses Flour, Magic Baking Powder and gold & silver edible powders. Keep in mind, our first 8 recipes are being accomplished while our children are on a week long winter break so our schedules might be more flexible, our patience might have to be exercised more and two of us have our children’s birthdays this week – phew! Shelly thanks for being a good sport and kicking off Day 1! So here goes day 2… First off, I didn’t have a pizzelle maker to even begin this recipe and only a serious baker would (or the daughter of a serious baker). Danielle G. graciously offered me hers to use. I expected a metal maker a little more modern than the one in the picture but this one is more like an electric waffle maker. Sharon did use one to demonstrate with but I still didn’t think this was what I was borrowing. Secondly, I had to make a Kroger run, like Shelly, cause I too didn’t have Anise oil extract. Making the cookie batter was simple and quick. I never really mastered the perfect amount of dough to put in the pizzelle maker. Either had too much or too little but they still came out so pretty and it didn’t affect the results. I didn’t have a cannoli tube to form the pizzelle around but I improvised. I tried a few kitchen items but the pizzelles were too small to stay formed. The pizzelle maker produces two at a time so I ended up rolling the pizzelle around the handle of a melon baller and stuck the second one inside a round biscuit cutter. We ended up with about 60 formed pizzelles. They are not perfect but I am totally impressed. The best part is that my oldest son wanted to be involved and made the last half on his own; however, you have to have fingers of steel, like Sharon, to get them off and rolled so that part is not recommended for kids. Easy to make with impressive results! You too can whoo your friends with these. The filling was easy to make too. Never thought ricotta cheese would be an ingredient, maybe cream cheese. I only have used ricotta cheese in lasagna before. I needed 3 lbs of ricotta cheese and how frustrating that it is not sold in 16oz tubs. You can find 15 oz tubs or 1lb 14 oz tubs! I am 3 ounces short but what the heck! I ended up buying roasted & salted pistachio nuts in the shell cause I was desperate and couldn’t find regular pistachio nuts. I de-shelled them, chopped them and I wondered if I really am supposed to be doing this? They are salty and look green. Wishing about now that my grocery store actually carried chopped pistachio nuts. I put the filling in a ziplock baggie, cut the end and filled a few pizzelles kind of like a real pastry chef! I could have used a pastry bag but it was quicker finding my ziplocks! My chocolate morsels weren’t small enough so I chopped them in my nut chopper and dipped each end into the chopped chocolate (I omitted the nuts for my kids) ~ viola! I think they look impressive and they taste delicious! I have a sentimental side that is really wondering more about the history of the recipe and Grandma Zaccari. I would love to know more about this amazing baker, her legacy, etc. I now have to switch gears and make a birthday cake for my son. I get to be creative with decorating it into a Detroit Tiger jersey (mind you I just finished a USA hockey jersey cake for my other son’s birthday on Friday) and hope I can endure more baking than I would ever do in one day/week! A final thought from “Pheobe” ~ I nor anyone in my household will be giving up sweets for Lent!!!!! Danielle B. “Pheobe”