In the basement of the old Saint Leo School in Little Italy, the sweet scents of cinnamon, vanilla and lemon surrounded the neighborhood ladies and other volunteers last Saturday as they made “pizzelle,” Italian waffle cookies, for the Saint Anthony Festival.

Pizzelle” is plural in Italian for the cookies. (Pizzella is one cookie). The word means, “small, flat and round.” Flour, butter, eggs and sugar complete this pizzelle recipe from Abruzzo in south-central Italy, minus one ingredient: aniseed. A spice plant native to the Mediterranean region, the taste of anise -a cross between fennel and licorice - doesn’t appeal to everyone according to ladies of Saint Leo’s.