Grandma's Italian Fig Cookies

Grandma made these fig cookies every Christmas. Mom remembers how much work went into these cookies, particularly grinding the figs. Luckily, Trader Joe's sells an excellent fig butter that eliminates the work of grinding figs with a hand grinder. Or, of course, you could just use a food processor, which is what I used to grind up the nuts. Nevertheless, there is a bit of work because the dough gets rolled out and cut up before the fig filling is added and then the final cookie is shaped. But eliminating having to grind figs is a major improvement. The dough is somewhat delicate, so I found it best to place the dough on the cookie sheet before adding the filling and shaping the cookie.

These fig cookies are also known as Cucidati and are very popular at Christmastime. While they can be found at Italian bakeries, nothing beats these homemade cookies. Grandma always made these cookies in a bow-tie-type shape. Other shapes could be used, but I stuck with the bow tie here. These cookies are not quite as sweet as other Christmas cookies, so adults might enjoy these cookies more than kids would.

Italian Fig Cookies

Filling

• 2 pounds figs (or two jars of fig butter)
• 1/2 pound raisins
• 1/4 pound almonds
• 1/4 pound walnuts
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup orange marmalade
• Black coffee to moisten

Grind the figs and raisins (or use my shortcut method of opening a jar of fig butter). Toast and grind the nuts. Mix together the figs, raisins, nuts, cinnamon, honey and marmalade. Add black coffee as needed to moisten.

Cookie Dough

• 3 cups flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 pound butter

In a separate bowl, blend the flour, baking powder, eggs, sugar, milk and butter.

Preheat oven to 400. To form the cookies, roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into squares (about 2 inches by 2 inches). Add filling in a diagonal across the square. Fold the opposite corners and press together to seal the cookie.  Bake for about 15 minutes. Frost, if desired, with a basic powdered sugar glaze; or, dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!