Ricotta Pudding and Homemade Pizzelles

All you need is 3 ingredients to make this simple and delicious ricotta pudding, and homemade pizzelles make the prettiest dippers for it.

Ricotta pudding? As in “ricotta cheese?”

Yeah, I said it. Don’t knock it until you try it, ok? You may have even tried it before without ever knowing it! Ever had a cannoli? Like a real cannoli? Not those counterfeit ones filled with frosting. Gross. A real Italian cannoli is filled with this sweet, heavenly, light ricotta cheese filling. I’ve basically deconstructed it and made it super easy to indulge in one of my favorite desserts – 5 minutes tops!

How to serve ricotta pudding and homemade pizzelles

I know I said it’s light, but it IS sweet, don’t be fooled. The perfect companions for this dessert are a hot cup of coffee and a pizzelle (we’ll get to this in a minute). A small dish with a serving of ricotta pudding, sprinkled with a few chocolate chips and a pizzelle nestled in the side makes for a stunning presentation as well as an Italian cafe-worthy snack.

If you want to take it a step further, you can always fill a cannoli shell (either storebought OR made from the homemade pizzelle recipe below) with the pudding – same idea, different presentation.

Wait, how do you say “pizzelle?”

Ok, first, it’s not a “z” sound. It’s “ts” like as in “pizza.” But not “ee” like “pizza,” it’s a short “i” sound. How’s that for clear?

I’m no good with phonetics. Let’s try it this way: If “pizza” is pronounced like “peet-sa,” then “pizzelle” is pronounced like “pit-sell.” Eh? Better explanation? I hope so because I’ve got nothing else here.

What the heck is a pizzelle anyway?

Now that you can properly pronounce it, let’s talk about the gloriousness of the pizzelle.

We used to make these as kids with my Italian grandma and grandpa. They’re very light, lacy, waffle-like cookies made on something similar to a waffle iron. This is the one I use. You can find packaged pizzelles in the grocery store sometimes, definitely in a specialty or international grocer; and I almost always see them in Aldi.

But they’re so simple to make, easy to change up with a few spices or extracts (cinnamon, vanilla, or orange zest; dipped in chocolate too!), and they’re SO good warm with a hot cup of coffee, so I definitely recommend making these on your own. They likely will fall apart if you try to dunk them in your coffee, but rest your pizzelle on top of your coffee cup to keep it warm.

Traditionally they’re made with anise seed, a licorice-like spice. But not like black licorice candy. Bleck. I hate that stuff. But strangely enough, I love anise. We made a few different Italian cookies growing up that had anise in them, so on top of being a really aromatic cookie, pizzelles are also very nostalgic for me. Food can really transport you, and I love that – back in time or to other parts of the world.

Bonus Tip

You can actually take a warm pizzelle off the iron and wrap it around a small rolling pin (my pizzelle maker came with one for this purpose) to make cannoli shells. Just carefully wrap it around to cool for a few minutes and voila! The prettiest little homemade cannoli shells you ever did see.

3-ingredient Ricotta Pudding

• 32 oz. ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• zest from one orange

Homemade Pizzelles

The recipe we used with my grandparents has been long lost since they passed away, but I’ve been using another recipe for a few years now that brings back all the tastes and smells I remember – it’s so good! I don’t think I can improve upon it, so I’m sharing Unsophisticook’s recipe here: easy classic pizzelle recipe for italian waffle cookies.

Make those memories

This is easily one of those recipes that brings me back to my grandparents’ kitchens – the smell of cookies, opera playing on the turntable in the background, the chatting while we wait for each pizzelle to finish in the iron, moving them to the cooling rack and putting another batch in. The constant sampling of the ricotta pudding and sipping on coffee while we linger in the kitchen, until our labor of love is finished. (Yes, we were allowed to have coffee growing up.)

You don’t have to wait for the weekend to make this – especially if you take the shortcut of using storebought pizzelles. How will you make the time (on a weeknight even) to find some Sunday pace and make some lifelong memories with your family in the kitchen this week?

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our family in this way!