Dessert

Italian Fig Cookies (Cucidati) | Christmas Recipes

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There is no Christmas in Sicily without these buttery cookies filled with walnuts, figs, raisins, honey, rum, and cinnamon. Their fantastic aroma bring holiday spirit to your home!

Italian Fig Cookies (Cucidati) | Christmas Recipes

Recipe by CakesCottageCourse: DessertCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

14

minutes
Calories

300

kcal
Total time

44

minutes

There is no Christmas in Sicily without these buttery cookies filled with walnuts, figs, raisins, honey, rum, and cinnamon. Their fantastic aroma bring holiday spirit to your home!

Ingredients

  • For the Dough:
  • 2¾ cup flour

  • 1 Tbsp baking powder

  • 1½ cups powdered sugar

  • ¼ tsp salt

  • 6 Tbsp butter, cold & cubed

  • 2 eggs

  • 2 tsp vanilla

  • 1 Tbsp cold water

  • For the Filling:

  • 12 oz dried figs

  • ¼ cup almonds

  • 3 Tbsp apricot preserves

  • 2 Tbsp orange juice

  • For the Glaze:
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

  • 2 Tbsp milk or water

  • ½ tsp vanilla

Directions

  • Place all of your dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse the cut-up butter until you get a coarse meal. Add the eggs, vanilla and water and continue to pulse until the dough forms into a ball.
  • Remove the dough from the food processor and knead it a bit on a floured surface. This is where you may need to sprinkle a little extra flour as you go. Form the dough into a ball, put in a bowl, cover and refrigerate.
  • Once your food processor is clean again add the almonds and figs. Pulse until roughly chopped.
  • Add in the apricot preserves and orange juice and mix until finely chopped. It will resemble a thick fig jam. Place in a bowl, wrap it up and refrigerate in order for the flavors to blend.
  • On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough in a rectangle shape, you can decide how big or small to make your fig cookies, it all depends on how big or small you make your rectangles(mine are about 10 inches long and 2-3 inches wide, but I experimented with many sizes and shapes, and encourage you to do the same!).
  • Scrape the filling onto a lightly floured surface and knead to shape into a log. Place the filling in the center of your rectangle, fold the side over and seal them on the other side of filling. Gently roll into a smooth log.
  • Wrap it in plastic and refrigerate until firm enough to slice. Continue rolling until all of your dough and filling is finished.
  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cut cookie log into 1 inch bite size cookies. Repeat with all the dough. Place the cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet. They don’t grow so you can put them pretty close together.
  • Bake for 14 mins or until just lightly golden. Cool completely.
  • For the icing, mix together the powdered sugar, vanilla, and enough milk to achieve the desired consistency. You’ll want the icing to be thick enough not to be runny, but still easily spreadable.
  • Ice the tops of the cookies and decorate with sprinkles, if desired.
  • Let the icing set completely before storing in an airtight container.

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