Best 6 Italian Fig Cookies I Recipes

ITALIAN FIG COOKIES (CUCIDATI)

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl beat the butter on medium-high speed using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix until combined. Add the egg and vanilla and blend just until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat again for a few seconds. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the dough in three additions, mixing on low to incorporate.
• Divide the dough in half and form each into a small rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
• In a small saucepan, combine the figs, dates, orange juice, candied orange peel, sugar, lemon zest and cinnamon. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes or until fruit is soft and the mixture is thick. Remove from the heat and add the chopped blanched almonds and 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier, if using. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap once cooled until needed.
• To assemble and bake the cookies, preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes before rolling out.
• Place a piece of wax or parchment paper (at least 14x10 inches) on a clean work surface. Generously dust the paper with flour. Roll one portion of the dough into a 10x8-inch rectangle. Cut each rectangle into two 10x4-inch strips. Portion 1/4 of the filling down the center of each strip (in a rounded mound). CHILL the dough and filling as is for 10-15 minutes before rolling into cylinders.
• Using the parchment paper as a guide, bring one long side of the dough up and over the filling. Repeat with the opposite side forming a tube and enclosing the filling. The dough should overlap slightly on top of the filling. Gently seal the edges.
• Carefully transfer the filled strips to the prepared baking sheet placing them seam side down on the pan. Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Remove from the oven and immediately slice each strip (using a large thin knife) diagonally into 1-inch pieces. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.
• Combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Drizzle on each cookie then top with colored sprinkles if desired.

ITALIAN FIG COOKIES I

Steps:

• To Make Dough: Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs, vanilla, and salt. Blend in flour and baking powder by hand. Knead dough until smooth and workable. Add milk to reach workable consistency. (This takes a while and you will get a workout, but you'll know when it's right.)
• To Make Filling: Cut up figs, orange, and apple into small pieces. (It is easier to grind this way). Grind figs, raisins, orange, and apple. If the mixture is too dry or thick, mix in up to 1 cup of water, if desired. (I do not use the water, the juice from the apple and orange are enough). The spices and chopped nuts are added to the ground fig mixture. After the fig mixture is ground, I sprinkle them in over the mixture and mix (knead) it in by hand. STICKY! But good.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Roll out some dough. (should be kind of thin). Put fig mixture in a line. Wrap dough over mixture, sealing figs inside dough. Trim to desired length, using a diagonal cut. Make small diagonal slits in the sides of the cookies. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes. (Dough makes good cookies without the filling also). Wonderful with coffee.

ITALIAN FIG COOKIES (CUCCIDATI)

Steps:

• Prepare filling: Working in two batches with ½ of the figs and ½ of the dates at a time, pulse dried fruit in a food processor until finely chopped; transfer to a bowl.
• Use a vegetable peeler to peel orange zest into the empty food processer. Juice the orange until you have 3 tablespoons juice; add it to the food processor. Add raisins, pecans, honey, brandy, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg and process until finely mixed.
• Add fig-date mixture and process until well combined, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time as needed to reach a thick consistency. Refrigerate filling for 8 hours to overnight.
• Prepare dough: Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor and process for 5 seconds to combine. Add butter and shortening and pulse until crumbly. Add milk, egg, vanilla, and almond extract and process until a dough forms.
• Turn dough onto a well-floured surface and knead until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Turn dough onto a floured surface and cut into 4 pieces. Roll one piece into a 4x12-inch rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick. Trim off any excess to form straight edges and save to make more cookies.
• Place about ¼ of the filling in a 1-inch log shape down the rectangle, just to the right of the center line. Dampen the edges of the dough with water and fold the right edge over the filling. Continue rolling the dough toward the left edge, then rock back and forth gently to stretch and seal the edges. Cut the log into 2- to 3-inch pieces. Make 2 or 3 slits in the top of each cookie to allow steam to escape. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden on the bottom and cooked through, 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Repeat to form, cut, and bake remaining cookies.
• Prepare icing by whisking powdered sugar and milk together in a bowl until smooth. Divide icing into thirds in 3 small bowls. Color one bowl with red food coloring to make pink icing, color another bowl with green food coloring to make green icing, and leave the remaining icing white.
• Dip each cookie into a different color icing and allow excess to drip off. Place iced cookies on parchment paper and decorate lightly with sprinkles. Allow to dry for at least 20 minutes before serving.

CUCCIDATI - ITALIAN FIG COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl of food processor add all dry ingredients: sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cold butter cut in cubes. Process until you get a crumbly dough without big lumps.
• Add eggs and vanilla extract. Process again until dough starts to come together.
• The whole process can be done with dough blender which is really handy.
• Transfer the dough onto a work surface and shape it quickly with your hands forming a smooth ball. Add some milk if the dough doesn't come together.
• Cover with a plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
• You can also make the dough the night before and keep it in the fridge. Make sure to take it out at least 2 hours before making cooking, otherwise it'll be too hard to roll.
• Steep dried figs in hot water for about 30 minutes. Take them out on a paper towel or linen towel and pat-dry to remove excess liquid.
• In a food processor add figs, candied fruit and Marsala wine. Process until you get a nice paste.
• In a food processor pulse nuts and dark chocolate. Or you can roughly chop them with a sharp knife. Set aside.
• In a big bowl mix together fig paste, chopped nuts with chocolate, raisins and cinnamon.
• Preheat oven to 350F (175C).
• Cut off a piece of the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to approx. ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick. Cut out a rectangular shape and save trimmed edges.
• Place fig filling lengthwise closer to one edge of the rectangle and fold the dough over to the other side brushing with some water the very end of the dough before closing it. This helps to seal the seam.
• Place formed log seam side down and using a pastry cutter or a sharp floured knife cut it into 1 inch (2.5 cm) cookies.
• Arrange the cookies on a baking sheet line with parchment paper or a silicone mat about ½ inch apart from each other.
• Bake in preheated to 350F (175C) oven for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown around the edges.
• Let cool.
• Repeat with the remaining dough (including trimmed dough leftovers) and fig filling.
• Beat egg white until foamy, add a pinch of salt and lemon juice.
• Continue to beat, slowly adding confectioners sugar. Increase speed to high and beat for another few minutes until soft peaks form.
• Once cookies are chilled to room temperature, dip them in the icing and top with color sprinkles.
• Let dry for a few hours before packing.
• If it's too cold or humid inside you can turn on the oven and heat to 85F (30C) and let your cookies dry in the oven for 20-60 minutes, checking on them occasionally.

CUCIDATI (ITALIAN FIG COOKIES)

Steps:

• For cookie dough, sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.
• Add sugar and stir well.
• Cut in the shortening with a fork or pastry blender and work the mixture until it looks like corn meal.
• In a bowl, beat egg, vanilla and milk together.
• Add egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes until well blended; dough will be soft.
• (The original recipe says to knead the mixture for 5 minutes on a floured surface, but I find my Kitchen-Aid works great for this step!) Divide the dough into four pieces and wrap each piece with plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate dough for 45 minutes.
• To make the filling, grind figs, dates and raisins in a food processor until coarse.
• (If you don't have a food processor, you can chop by hand until coarse) Place chopped figs, dates and raisins in a bowl.
• Add remaining filling ingredients and mix well.
• (Mixture will be thick) Set aside mixture.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Work with one piece of dough at a time, leaving the other pieces of dough in the refrigerator until needed.
• On a floured surface (I often use confectioner's sugar for rolling my dough), roll the dough to a 12-inch square.
• Cut dough into 2X3-inch rectangles.
• Spoon about 1 teaspoon of filling onto each rectangle.
• Carefully fold the long edges over to meet in the center and pinch to seal seam.
• Place each cookie, seam side down, on a baking sheet, making sure you leave at least 1-2 inches between each cookie.
• Make 2 or 3 diagonal slits on the top of each cookie with a sharp knife.
• Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until cookies are golden in color.
• Remove from oven and transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.
• For icing, place confectioner's sugar in a bowl.
• Add just a little water or milk, until you get a smooth consistency- but not runny!
• Ice the tops of each cookie and sprinkle with colored sprinkle.
• Let icing dry completely before stacking!
• Store in air-tight containers up to 2 weeks.

ITALIAN FIG COOKIES

Steps:

• Make filling:
• Pulse figs and raisins in a food processor until finely chopped, then stir together with remaining filling ingredients in a bowl. Chill, covered, at least 8 hours.
• Make dough:
• Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and blend with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and zest and stir with a fork until a soft dough forms. Halve dough and gather each half into a ball, then flatten each half into a rough 6- by 4-inch rectangle between sheets of plastic wrap. Chill until firm, at least 8 hours.
• Form cookies:
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Roll out 1 rectangle of dough (keep remaining dough chilled) into a 15- by 14-inch rectangle on a well-floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Trim to a 13- by 10-inch rectangle (chill trimmings), then cut into 4 (10- by 3 1/4-inch) strips. Arrange 1/3 cup filling in a 1-inch-wide log lengthwise down center of each strip, then fold sides of each strip up over filling to enclose it, pinching edges together to seal. Turn rolls seam-sides down and press gently to flatten seams. Cut logs crosswise with a floured knife into 1 1/2-inch-wide slices and arrange 1/2 inch apart on buttered large baking sheets. Make more cookies in same manner with remaining chilled dough, trimmings (reroll once), and filling.
• Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until golden around edges, 16 to 20 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool until warm, about 10 minutes.
• Make icing while first batch of cookies bake:
• Whisk together confectioners sugar, vanilla, and enough orange juice to make a pourable icing.
• Brush icing on warm cookies and decorate with nonpareils (if using), then cool completely.
• Available at some specialty bakeware shops and Sweet Celebrations (800-328-6722).