Pizzelle’s = Homemade Gluten Free Ice Cream Cones

With the warmer days beginning to take their hold on Austin, nothing sounds more refreshing right now than a homemade ice cream cone and to find good gluten free ones is absolutely impossible, so I decided to eliminate this minor lack of unfairness.

When I was growing up, my grandmother would always have a metal tin filled with pizzelles in her kitchen and whenever I would remove the lid, the anise and caramelized orange zest smell of them completely took my breath away. I’d literally close my eyes and just inhale them for a moment, memorizing the subtle layer of vanilla, placed on top of the lemon zest custard of the eggs and subtle sugar that burst through the curtain of orange and anise.

She would always serve them with either ice cream or fresh raspberry preserves from her root cellar, which you can do too—I took them a small step further and rolled them into cones for the perfect spring time treat.

I haven’t gotten to enjoy these childhood favorites for the last 10 years. It’s so good to have them back so I can, in turn, pass this modernized, gluten free version on to my son, Leo.

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Gluten Free Pizzelles

¾ cup glutinous rice flour
¼ cup gluten free oat flour
½ cup tapioca flour
¼ cup cornstarch or arrowroot
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup castor or superfine sugar
1 ¼ teaspoon guar gum
¾ cup organic vegetable shortening, like Spectrum
4 whole eggs
2 teaspoons anise extract
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
juice and zest of 1 whole meyer lemon
juice and zest of ½ of an tangerine

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, add all the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Add the vegetable shortening and mix on low speed until you can no longer see the lumps of lard. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix on medium speed until the dough is wet and sticky. Turn the mixer off and zest and juice the lemon directly into the bowl, being careful to catch any seeds. Do the same thing with ½ of your tangerine. Mix to combine, scrapping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Finish off the dough with the anise and vanilla extracts, mixing just until incorporated.

Transfer to a glass bowl, cover with cellophane and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Fry your pizzelles in an electric pizzelle griddle according to your manufacturers instructions, unless you are old school and have the long handled presses that you heat on the stovetop.

When the pizzelles are done, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. If you are making ice cream cones, roll the pizzelles into a cone shape right after they come off the griddle, being sure to hold the cones until they hold their shape independently, about 1 minute.

Serve with a selection of cream cheese and preserves or with your favorite gelato or ice cream.