Cucidati recipe
Cucidati is a traditional sicilian Christmas cookie recipe. When we were in Siciliy over the holidays, every bakery had them. But we concluded that our recipe tasted better! This makes 5-6 dozen cookies, even more if you cut the cookies small. You could easily cut the recipe in half.
First, make the filling and let it cool. I usually do this the day before (don't need to refrigerate it):
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 pound figs, de-stemmed and ground
1/2 c. raisins, ground
1/2 c. honey
1 c. mincemeat (I use the whole small jar of mincement - it's probably more than a cup?)
grated rind of one orange
1/2 c. water and 1/4 c. brandy
Simmer 5 minutes, take off the heat and add:
1 c. nuts (toasted, finely chopped) - I usually use walnts and almonds, 1 T. cinnamon, 1 T. allspice,
1/2 c. chocolate, chopped (I use semisweet chocolate chips)
The cookie dough:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 T. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. milk
1 T. vanilla
4 1/2 c. flour
The dough is pretty easy to work. Divide it up into 5-6 pieces, and roll each piece into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. I don't use flour for rolling, but you could use a little if needed. Arrange the filling down the middle of the rectangle, the long way. The filling should be kind of mounded like a log down the dough. The filling is pretty sticky! Then fold up the edges of the dough to encase the filling and secure the edges with a little water. Cut the cookies whatever size you want - I usually cut them so each cookie is 2-3 bites. In Siciliy some of the cookies were gigantic, like 10 - 12 inches long! Place them seam side up on the cookie sheet.
Bake the cookies on parchment paper, in a 350 degree preheated oven. They take about 13-15 minutes.
Let them cool on their parchment paper.
After they cool, frost with royal icing and sprinkle with multi-colored sprinkles. I use the royal icing that comes in a package - I get it at the cake decorating store and they also have it at JoAnn's. My husband's family made the icing with powdered sugar and an egg white. I don't eat raw eggs anymore, and I don't think this icing hardens up like the packaged icing.
These freeze nicely. To store them, I use parchment paper to separate the layers so they don't stick together.