Helena Fairfax

It’s great to welcome author M.L. Guida today with another delicious recipe for the holidays – this time all the way from Italy. Magnifico! M.L. Guida is one of the contributors to our Bake, Love, Write dessert recipe book and my first guest with an Italian recipe.

Bienvenuto, M.L. Guida!

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Christmas is in the air and my favorite holiday recipe is pizzelles. My great grandmother, Mary Justine Damico, came from Campobasso, Italy with her parents, and they went through Stanton Island. She was a wonderful cook and gardener. I remember as a little girl exploring her wonderful garden full of beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and squash.

Her husband died leaving her to raise their eight children, three girls and five boys, by herself. Grandma D worked in a factory and would walk to work every day. She was a tough lady and a hard worker. She never remarried after Grandpa died, but was very active with helping raising her grandchildren.

My regret is that I didn’t get to know her better and she never taught us how to speak Italian. My dad doesn’t know how to speak Italian either, because my grandparents wanted their children to be Americans.

But she left with us many wonderful traditions. She was the one who taught my mother how to cook Italian food and now my mother is a great cook. Usually for Christmas, we have either homemade ravioli’s or gnocchi.

Pizzelles is a family tradition. It’s not Christmas without the yummy smell of anise. In fact, in my new book, A Vampire’s Fallen Christmas Star, the hero’s mother makes pizzelles.

(Note: you will need a pizzelle iron or waffle-maker to bake these the proper way.)

The recipe is:

Melt 1 pound (450gsm) of margarine (not butter, because it will scorch on the pizzelle iron)

Beat 15 eggs – Add 2 ½ cups of sugar

Add 1 bottle anise flavoring (oil) (British readers: use only anise oil specifically for cooking. You can buy it in lots of places online, including on Amazon)

Then add margarine keep stirring

Add 5 – 6 cups of flour unsifted

Let sit ½ hour to flavor

Put a teaspoon of batter on the pizzelle iron and squeeze iron tight

This makes close to seventy cookies. We sometimes make pizzelles on Easter, but traditionally, it’s a Christmas cookie. Some of the grocery stores sell anise flavoring. Although it’s cheaper, the anise is not strong enough and the cookies will not taste right.

So, enjoy this recipe that came all the way from Campobasso!

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Here is the blurb to A Vampire’s Fallen Christmas Star

It’s the week before Christmas but the last thing Jayden Kye wants to do is celebrate. He blames himself for his twin’s brother’s death. He hikes up to Rainbow Lake to make peace with him, but Jayden slips down a snowy embankment and impales himself on a tree. He is dying.
Eleanor Baines has been a vampire for over a hundred years but she’s never been tempted to turn a human before. Now, facing the sexy rock star, she has a choice, let him die or let him live.
Now, she finds herself with a head-strong rock singer who breaks all the rules.
Jayden discovers everything he thought he knew is wrong. His best friend and lead guitarist are legendary vampire killers bent on killing him and Eleanor. He must learn to trust Eleanor, a total stranger, to survive. When his manager kidnaps Jayden’s mother and threatens to kill her, Jayden is forced to kill his best friend, or hand over the woman he loves.

Buy links: Amazon US / Amazon UK

You can find out more about M.L. Guida on her website at www.mlguida.com , and also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ml.guida1

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Thanks so much for coming today, M. L. Guida. I’ve never heard of pizzelles or even knew what they looked like, so had to look at some photos on Wikipedia. They look tremendous! Thanks so much for sharing. Another recipe to add to my list of new desserts to try.

Have you ever tried pizzelles? If you enjoyed M.L. Guida’s post, or have any questions or comments at all, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you!