This homemade Chocolate Pizzelle Recipe is crisp, chocolatey, and beautifully patterned. They are an easy, elegant cookie that always stands out on any dessert table!
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I’ve been making my grandma’s recipe for Traditional Italian Pizzelle for YEARS, but this Christmas while we were making her recipe, I decided I wanted to get a little creative! I found a recipe booklet alongside our cooking supplies that had instructions on how to turn her normal pizzelle into a chocolate pizzelle recipe.
I came home and tried it out and WOW! I can’t believe I haven’t been making pizzelle like this all along. The chocolate taste in these cookies are subtle, just a slight cocoa tang for a light cookie.
These chocolate pizzelle are thin, crisp, lightly sweet waffle-style cookies with a beautiful decorative pattern. If you already love traditional pizzelle, this chocolate version is a must-try.
They’re quick to make, perfect for holidays and cookie trays, (right alongside my Walnut cookies, Italian Biscotti and Italian Pistachio Cookies) and delicious with just a light dusting of powdered sugar.
This easy chocolate pizzelle recipe comes together with simple pantry ingredients and cooks in just minutes, making it ideal for both special occasions and everyday baking.
Recipe Origins
Pizzelle are one of the oldest known waffle-style cookies in Italian cuisine and are traditionally associated with the central Italian region of Abruzzo. For generations, Italian families have prepared pizzelle for weddings, holidays, and special celebrations, cooking them on decorative irons that imprint the cookies with beautiful patterns.
Classic pizzelle are flavored with anise or vanilla, but chocolate pizzelle are a more modern variation that builds on the same traditional technique by adding cocoa powder to create a richer, dessert-style cookie while preserving the thin, crisp texture and beautiful design that defines Italian pizzelle.
Why Make This Recipe
- Light, Crisp, and Chocolatey: These pizzelle bake up thin and delicate with a satisfying snap and just the right amount of rich chocolate flavor from cocoa powder.
- Perfect for Cookie Platters and Gifts: Pizzelle are known for their beautiful, intricate design that can really only be achieved with a pizzelle press. The extra tool needed to get them just right makes them extra special and perfect for holiday cookie boxes and homemade gifts.
- Surprisingly Easy to Make: Once your batter is mixed, each cookie cooks in under two minutes, making this one of the fastest cookie recipes you can make.
Key Ingredients for Chocolate Pizzelle
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Eggs: This recipe calls for more eggs than a typical cookie recipe, which helps make the cookies light and crisp.
- Granulated sugar: For subtle sweetness and a caramelization that creates the perfect texture.
- Butter: You want your butter to melt and then to cool slightly so it doesn’t cook your eggs when mixed into the batter.
- Flour: Regular all purpose flour works perfectly!
- Cocoa powder: For a rich, chocolate flavor. I use unsweetened cocoa powder, because this recipe is not meant to be overly sweet.
Do You Need a Pizzelle Maker to Make Pizzelle?
For the best results, you truly do need a pizzelle maker. I’ve seen some recipes for oven baked pizzelle or some people recommend making pizzelle in waffle irons, but there’s just no substitute for a real pizzelle maker.
Every waffle maker I’ve tried has been too deep. Besides a waffle maker, your only option is a frying pan and then you just end up with pancakes.
What makes Pizzelle so beautiful and unique is the thin, decorative, and crispy exterior! And truly the only way to achieve that is with a pizzelle maker.
Luckily electric pizzelle irons are not too pricey and the end result is worth it!
How to Make Chocolate Pizzelle
Step One: Beat the eggs and sugar together.
Step Two: Add the butter and vanilla and mix again.
Step Three: Sift the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder into the egg mixture and mix.
Step Four: Drop a tablespoon of mixture onto the pizzelle maker.
Step Five: Close the pizzelle maker and allow the pizzelle to cook until they are crispy and toasted.
Step Six: Remove the pizzelle from the pizzelle maker and dust with powdered sugar if desired. Enjoy!
How to Get Beautiful Cookies
In order to get the pretty edge, I used a little more than 1 tablespoon of batter per cookie so that the batter spread out further than the pizzelle design. If you use too little batter, sometimes the pizzelle won’t reach the edge of the design on the pizzelle iron and your cookie will appear cut off.
As soon as they were cooked, I used scissors to cut around the edge of the design, removing any excess and keeping the pretty edges. It is very hot, so be careful, but this is the only time it is pliable enough to easily cut the edges off.
Once they are cut, cool the pizzelle flat on a baking sheet so they stay crisp and don’t curl.
Expert Tips
- Be sure to give your butter time to cool before mixing it with your eggs. Otherwise you might accidentally cook your eggs.
- Sifting the dry ingredients into the eggs and butter prevents lumps as well as overmixing, giving you light and crispy cookies.
- Be sure and spray your pizzelle maker in between each cookie to ensure they pull away perfectly.
- Pizzelle make great waffle bowls for ice cream or faux cannoli shells. Carefully shape them over a bowl or wooden dowel right when they come out of the press.
- Don’t want an entirely chocolate pizzelle? Try my famous Swirl Pizzelle instead!
Recipe FAQs
These cookies have a unique batter that is not as thick as other cookies. It should be thick enough to drop with a spoon but closer to the texture of pancake batter than cookie dough.
Most pizzelle makers cook each cookie in about 1 minute and 30–45 seconds, depending on the machine and heat level.
The beauty of these delicate cookies is they taste great with just a dusting of powdered sugar but they are also simple enough to pair with ice cream, nutella, or to use as dippers for any dessert dip like my Cannoli Dip.
Yes. These cookies store very well and are perfect for making in advance and giving as gifts.
Store completely cooled pizzelle in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week to keep them crisp.
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Chocolate Pizzelle
Equipment
- Pizzelle Iron
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cups + 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ cup butter, melted and cooled
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Beat 3 eggs and ¾ cups + 3 tbsp granulated sugar together until well-combined.
- Add ½ cup butter and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Beat again.
- Sift 1 ¾ cup flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 3 tbsp cocoa powder into the egg mixture and mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. The batter should be thick enough to be dropped by a spoon (a mix between pancake batter and cookie dough).
- Spray a pizzelle maker with nonstick spray and drop a tablespoon of mixture onto the pizzelle maker.
- Close the pizzelle maker and allow the pizzelle to cook until they are brown. My maker takes about 1 minute and 40 seconds.
- Remove the pizzelle from the pizzelle maker and place flat on a cookie sheet to cool. Spray pizzelle maker with nonstick spray between each new round of pizzelle.
- Dust with powdered sugar if desired. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Flour: Regular all purpose flour works perfectly!
- Cocoa powder: I use unsweetened cocoa powder, because this recipe is not meant to be overly sweet.
- Be sure to give your butter time to cool before mixing it with your eggs. Otherwise you might accidentally cook your eggs.
- Sifting the dry ingredients into the eggs and butter prevents lumps as well as overmixing, giving you light and crispy cookies.
- Be sure and spray your pizzelle maker in between each cookie to ensure they pull away perfectly.
- Pizzelle make great waffle bowls for ice cream or faux cannoli shells. Carefully shape them over a bowl or wooden dowel right when they come out of the press.
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