Fig cookies, also known as cucidati cookies are usually made for the holiday season. It is a Sicilian treat, but the taste is great enough to be enjoyed by everyone. So, have yourself some fig cookies this holiday season. I personally don’t like figs, but I really liked these cookies. Maybe they’ll be the catalyst to letting me give figs another chance at impressing my palate.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
1 egg
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
2 tbsp of cold water
2 cups of flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 cup of sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup of butter
For the filling:
2 tbsp of water
12 oz of dried figs
1/3 cup of raisins
1/4 cup of almonds
Lemon zest
1 tsp of cinnamon powder
Juice of half a lemon
For the glaze
2 tbsp of milk
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
Sprinkles
Let’s get started!!!
First, get the dough ready. Melt the butter. Cream the egg with the sugar, salt, extract, water and melted butter. One they are mix well together, set it aside. Mix the baking powder into the flour, and then mix the flour in the egg mixture to form a dough. Knead the dough well for about five minutes, and then let it rest, covered, in the fridge for at least one hour.
In the meantime, you can get the filling ready. Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend. Since there is not much liquid in the filling it might be hard to blend. You can do it by pulsing the blender. The filling will be a coarse mixture. Set it aside so it can be ready to go once the dough has rested.
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F
Once the dough has rested enough, take it out of the fridge, cut it into 4 different parts. Roll out one part into a long band. You can sprinkle a bit of flour over the dough so the rolling pin doesn’t stick to the dough. Use a knife to cut the edges to have a nice long rectangle. Twist the filling in between your palms so it can be form into a tiny log, and put it in the middle of the rolled out dough. Roll the dough over the filling to envelop it. Cut each cookie to the desired size; mine were about 2 inches long. Place the cookies on a lined baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.
Once the are done baking, let them cool completely before decorating. Keep in mind that if you wanted to cut on the sugar level, you can simply as the cookies just as is, no need for sprinkles. They still taste just as great.
For the glaze, mix the powdered sugar with the milk and vanilla extract to the desired consistency. I made mine pretty thin. Add the liquid one tablespoon at a time to determine how runny you want it. Dip each cookie in the glaze, and then top with sprinkles. You can also dip the glazed cookies in the sprinkles, that method would have made less of a mess in my kitchen.
Enjoy your treat
Thank you for your time
