From a Gourmet Magazine, Dec. 2002 recipe (you can click here for the original recipe), these cookies are a traditional Italian goodie which are complicated and have a lot of ingredients but are very satisfying to make and are delicious.
Attention! It is a two day project.
For filling
- 1 cup soft dried Mission figs
- ¾ cups raisins
- ¾ cup honey
- ¼ cup brandy
- 1 ½ teaspoon grated orange zest
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon. freshly grated nutmeg
- ¾ cup whole almonds, toasted & chopped
- ¾ cup walnuts toasted & chopped
For pastry dough
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- ½ cup milk
- 1 ½ tsp. vanilla
- 1 teaspoon grated orange or lemon zest
For icing
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ to 2 tablespoon fresh orange juice
- nonpareils
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 a coarse corn 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.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare baking sheets with parchment paper
Form cookies
- With about ½ cup of dough, roll into a rope 1”in diameter.
- Roll to about 4”in width. Trim both sides to 3 ½”.
- Arrange 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 ½ inch wide slices and arrange ½ inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until golden around the edges – 16-20 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 then cool completely