Valentine’s Day falls next Wednesday, and lovers everywhere will be looking for something to warm the hearts of their dear ones.

Homemade cookies have long been a thoughtful treat that bear the unspoken message, “I Love You.” A recent annual competition at Mathews Memorial Library showed a different way to bake up this message.

The 2023 Cookie Exchange, continuing a tradition started in 2012, produced the pizzelle, one of the world’s ancient cookies. The plate of pizzelle was submitted by Sherri Hodges, using modern equipment.

Sherri’s family has been making pizzelle for years. She has the heavy, long iron-handled pizzelle maker with which her grandmother once baked one pizzelle at a time over an open flame. “It’s a keepsake.” Continuing the family tradition, Sherri uses the electric cooker (something like a waffle iron), making four pizzelle at a time.

Pizzelle is a flat waffle cookie made in the shape of a snowflake or other delicate design. It originated centuries ago i...