Grandma Annette's Chicago Rosettes Recipe

Grandma Annette's Chicago Rosettes Recipe

Rosette cookies are incredibly thin, crispy, powdered sugar covered snowflakes of sweetness. Such easy cookies to make, but you need a special tool to make them (posted below). Rosette cookies are fried (traditionally in lard) but you can use any oil. I use the fat trimmings when we make Italian sausage to render lard & keep it in a mason jar in the fridge for at least a year. Anyway, this recipe is so simple & it's a great tradition to start with your family & friends! Simply dust with powdered sugar or flip & fill the hollow back with jam or jelly.

rosette cookie recipe

A little bit of my history with these treats. Growing up in the Chicago area there was this weird tradition with a lot of people making these Scandinavian region Rosette cookies around Christmas time. I related these cookies with Christmas growing up, but I have no ties to Scandinavian heritage. The more people I've met around Chicago, the more I realized these little, crispy, sugary cookies are popular around the holidays to a lot of Chicagoans. 

My grandma Annette used to make them every Christmas Eve for our family parties in Cicero. She passed when I was younger, but I remembered these cookies from my childhood, so I was able to get the recipe from family. Every time I make these I think of our time together & I love eating them with some evening coffee in these snowy winter nights. Print out the PDF recipe by clicking the image below.

rosette cookie recipe card

Grab an iron off Amazon & tag #ChicagoJohnnys to show us how your Rosettes turned out!

Appreciate the support my friends - Johnny

 

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3 comments

Does anyone know a bakery that will make these? I grew up in Chicago as well and miss these!!! I suck at making them though.

Jeannette Root

In NY they are called sugar waffles and they are usually found at carnivals and fairs. I am going to start making them ordered my rosette iron today

Marcia Guiles

Hi,
Its amazing to see how many similarities there are in different traditional foods around the world. These are called rose cookies in India and they are also made egg less using mashed bananas instead! Thank you for the recipe my kids will love making these with me.

Afshan Zarine

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