Italian Fig Cookies (Cucidati)
Flavorful, moist, tender Italian Fig Cookies (cucidati) filled with dried fruit and hints of citrus. A Christmas cookie must every year!
Cucidati or Italian Fig Cookies is the one standing tradition remaining in our family.
My aunt makes up a large batch of dough and fig filling every year. We all come together to help her bake the hundreds and hundreds of cookies. It’s usually a fun adventure!
I have consulted with her for years about how to cut down the recipe so most home bakers wouldn’t run to the hills in fear of the sheer size of her recipe. This year I just kept hounding and consulting with her until we finally came up with great results.
Try our bread pudding recipe with bourbon sauce!
See the above photo for what I was dealing with…numerous recipes from years past! So many different ones!
Every Sicilian family has its own recipe and this is ours, sort of. I tested her dough recipe over and over until I almost lost track.
Her recipes use shortening and butter but the first one I was working from stated either / or. Ughhhh. The first batch came out hard as rocks!
So, back to her house to pull out the recipes and ask questions.
Come to find out she uses MARGARINE and shortening. Well, when it comes to cookies I’m a pure butter kind of baker. So the dough recipe I’m sharing is from loads of research and testing. But the fig filling is all my aunt’s.
Italian Fig Cookies (Cucidati)
First, place the coarsely chopped pecans, orange zest, dried figs, dates, and raisins into the food processor. Give it a couple of pulses to start grinding the fruit.
In a separate bowl whisk together the granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
Add the water and sugar mixture to the food processor and pulse until it grinds everything and comes together. You could also use fresh orange juice in place of the water for a stronger citrus flavor.
Most recipes use rum instead of water but I guess in our family that was not acceptable.
Place in an air-tight container and refrigerate for at least overnight or longer.
My aunt uses a meat grinder to finely mince the fruit and seasonings together. She also uses a bread machine to mix the dough. I found that my food processor does the work much easier.
Next to make the dough: Clean and dry the food processor. Pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Add the cold butter and pulse a few more times again.
Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and milk. Process until the dough just starts to combine (like pie dough). Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead a few times until it comes together completely and looks smooth.
Divide the dough into four equal pieces and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
The dough and the fig filling can be refrigerated for long periods of time. Days and days, which makes this Cucidati recipe a little easier on the baker. It can be time-consuming so break it up over a period of days.
When you are ready to bake the cookies preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Form the fig filling into ropes about the size of your little finger. To make it easier form all the filling and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Using only one dough round at a time (leave the remaining dough refrigerated) on a well-floured work surface, knead the dough a few times until it becomes smooth, roll the dough out fairly thin, about 1/8 inch thick. This dough rises some and you want to taste that amazing filling, not just cookie.
Trim the rough edges from the dough, place a rope on the dough edge.
Lift the outer edge and start rolling it over the filling.
Roll it completely over and trim it off, as shown above. Place the seam side down.
Slice each strip on the diagonal into about 1-inch pieces and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until the tops a light golden and bottoms are browned. Watch them closely, all ovens are different. You may need to rotate the baking sheets for even browning.
Allow them to cool on the pan for about 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
These are not your average store-bought fig newtons. They are perfectly spicy, aromatic, moist little morsels of pure heavenly flavor. The longer these cookies sit the better they taste!!!
Try our Almond Biscotti recipe!
Traditionally these cookies are iced and topped with colored sprinkles. We have never used sprinkles but we have used icing in the past. Over the years it was decided the icing wasn’t necessary, so we typically don’t do it anymore.
Check out our popular Italian Butterball Cookie recipe or our super yummy Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookie.
If you’re wanting to keep it within the season, our eggnog cookies are amazing and so easy to make! Check them out as well.
Italian (Sicilian) Fig Cookie Recipe
Italian Fig Cookies (Cucidati) Recipe
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cold and cut into small pieces
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk
Fig Filling
- 1 cup pecans rough chopped
- 8 oz dried figs stemmed and roughly chopped
- 5 oz dates pitted and roughly chopped
- 4 oz dark raisins
- 1 small orange zest
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup warm water Up to 1/3 cup
Instructions
Dough
- Pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Add the cold butter pieces and pulse again.
- Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and milk. Process until the dough just starts to combine (like pie dough). Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead a few times until it comes together completely and looks smooth.
- Divide the dough into four equal pieces and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
Filling
- Place the dried figs, dates, pecans, raisins, and orange zest in the food processor. Give it a couple of pulses to start grinding the fruit.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
- Add the water and sugar mixture to the food processor and pulse until it grinds everything and comes together.
- Place in an air-tight container and refrigerate for at least overnight or longer.
Forming and Baking
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Form the fig filling into ropes about the size of your little finger. To make it easier form all the filling and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Using only one dough round at a time (leave the remaining dough refrigerated) on a well-floured surface, knead the dough a few times until it becomes smooth, roll the dough out fairly thin, about 1/8 inch thick.
- Trim the rough edges from the dough, place a rope on the dough edge. Lift the outer edge and start rolling it over the filling. Roll it completely over and trim it off. Place the seam side down.
- Slice each strip on the diagonal into about 1-inch pieces and place them on the prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until the tops a light golden and bottoms are browned. Watch them closely, all ovens are different. You may need to rotate the baking sheets for even browning.
- Allow them to cool on the pan for about 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
If you would like to double this recipe we have found you will need to double the filling and triple the dough.
Both the dough and filling can be refrigerated for days! I have made them as much as a week before baking.
Storage – Store completely cooled cookies in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 3 weeks. (These keep a really long time I’m almost embarrassed to tell you how long we have had them stay fresh) Freezing – Freeze completely cooled cookies (unfrosted) in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Tools Used
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| Cuisinart Food Processor 14 cup | https://amzn.to/2Db6Cpj |
This was a 2 day project, although making the dough and filling is super easy with the food processor. The second day is the work…perhaps it would help if you gave some dimensions ,I ended up with almost 120 cookies! They are delish, next time I will aim to make them more fig newton sized!
We’re happy you enjoyed the recipe. It’s a family recipe and we don’t roll the dough out to specific dimensions. My aunts and I gather in her kitchen, start rolling and filling, and chat for hours. 😉 And, yes, this recipe makes a LOT of cookies!
Can you use fig jam & how much
Kim, I’ve only ever made the recipe as written.
Can this be made with a regular stand mixer and blender?
Hey Karin,
So, the food processor cuts up all those tough ingredients and cuts in the butter for the dough. If push comes to shove, give the filling ingredients (pecans, figs, dates, etc) a very good chop, almost to a mince then use the mixer to make the filling. As far as the dough goes, you can just cut in the butter like you’re making a dough. You can TRY the blender, but we’ve never done that. Hope it works out! We’re making ours today!
Can I use fresh frozen figs instead. I have a ton from my my tree!
We have only used dried figs in this recipe.
me,too
yes…I made a delicious fresh fig filling!
I suspect I know why your first attempt using “shortening” and butter were hard as rocks. I have a similar family recipe and the same result when we tried using Crisco for the shortening. The answer is….lard. Lard with a bit of butter for taste. Lard will give you a softer cookie dough. Considering yours have to be rolled and hold a filling, I’m thinking I will try it half and half to start. Thanks so much for the recipe. I don’t think my Dad’s Mom had any recipes like this. I have plenty of her entrees but no sweets. I will try this and see what my Dad thinks.
A made from scratch good old Italian fig cookies recipe indeed thank you for sharing it!
We finally made this recipe and it will be a standard from now on! Absolutely delicious and worth every second it takes to make them!
This Christmas is the third time I’ve used this recipe, and I deviate a little from the recipe a little each time.
This year I’m subbing the raisins for dried cranberries, and cashews for the pecans and a small dash of dried apricots. Dough and filling are in the fridge ready for tomorrow morning. I love that this is the only recipe I could find without frosting and sprinkles.
Happy Holidays to you!!
Thanks, John. I like to add brandy instead of water sometimes. My aunt still uses frosting but I prefer them without it. Merry Christmas!
I’m pretty sure this is what Christmas in a cookie is supposed to taste like! Thank you for the images as they really helped me along the way. I made this dairy free by using vegan butter and oat milk. I also used spiced rum instead of water. These little gems were worth the days it took me to make. I think these are my new favorite cookie! Thank you Leigh for the wonderful recipe 😍
This makes me so happy! Great tips for making these dairy free! Merry Christmas