ALLRIGHT, PEOPLE!!! THAT'S IT!! I WILL NEVER, EVER TRY TO MAKE HOMEMADE PIZZELLES AGAIN!! Holy Crap!!! What an ordeal!! Okay.....hang on...let me get ahold of myself....I just had to fight my way through the land mines of burnt pizzelle crumbs and pieces on my kitchen counter, kitchen floor and chisel off the ones that stuck to my slipper socks before I could get to my computer.....For the love of God.....I think my sister-in-law set me up for failure,,,who shall NOT remain namleess---NORMA DOLAN DORICH!!! "Sure, go ahead and borrow my pizzelle maker--no problem! It's easy! Do you have a recipe? Oh--you don't?? Well, here's Aunt Mary's (Rice) recipe if you want to write it down!" On top of that, upon arrival at Norma's house she had skyscraper sized stacks of pizzelles everywhere in her kitchen--on the table, on the counter, on top of the microwave, on the ceiling fan, on the washer & dryer.....well, you get the picture...I believe this was all part of her plot to back up her statement that " IT's EASY!", you know, add credibility to her bullshit story,...that's how she is...she has the face of an angel and the lilting laugh of a songbird, she usually relies on those traits to instill in others that she can be trusted, but I think she knew I was on to her, so she added the gargantuan amount of pizzelles just to be sure I would fall for it....And boy did I ever!! So, this morning I mixed up the batter per Aunt Mary's recipe, all excited as this was my first time EVER trying to make pizzelles myself....Wait--another thing--any of you who know me well also know that I LOVE to bake--especially during the holidays--and I am damn good at it!!! Stuff that I make simply doesn't suck...UNTIL TODAY!! 90 seconds in the pizzelle make my ass!! When I opened it up after 90 seconds, I had blackened, smelly discs that you couldn't even lift off the griddle because they disintegrated into a million pieces all over the place!!! Have any of you ever smelled REALLY BURNT ANISE??????? Holy crap....reminded me of the classroom they used to conduct Chemistry class in... you know that smell....Louis was still sleeping during this debacle and actually yelled out from the bedroom "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SMELL???" True Story...anyways, to make a long story shorter, after a few more trial & errors, adjusting the time in the iron to 20 SECONDS, adding a bit more flour to the mixture and tearing my kitchen apart for a freakin' plastic knife to lift the stupid things off "without scratching the non-stick finish" on Norma's precious pizzelle maker, I managed to produce about 20 edible pizzelles. SO TOTALLY NOT WORTH IT!! By the way!! Our mothers and grandmothers made these things every Christmas when we were little and spent so much time doing it! My mother used to sit on a step stool in our kitchen right in front of the pizzelle iron vigilantly and DID NOT MOVE until they were all done....a labor of love, no doubt, but let's think about that--WHY?? They are flat, bland and boring--they got no filling, no sprinkles, no frosting, they are not red or green nor do they hum "Jingle Bells"....why spend all that time making these things when they could have been making fudge? Or Baklava? Or lady locks? Or even Snickerdoodles for God's sake and I HATE SNICKERDOODLES!!! I would also like to add that Aunt Mary's recipe called for vegetable oil yet upon perusing the recipe that was included in the box of the pizzelle maker, it actually says to use margarine and in parenthesis says "DO NOT USE OIL"!!! WTF!!! Okay, I am done....that's all I have to say...I have to go clean up my crumb factory in the kitchen now....Good one, Norma.....Sabotage.....never knew that was one of your little hobbies....I knew that trying to kill me was one of your hobbies because you try to do it everytime I come visit you, but you are far more devious than I thought.....Bravo, My Dear Sister-Iaw, Bravo......gonna go make some NORMAL cookies now....ones that won't hurt me...... Ucenter Dress knee length bodycon red color dress