Cuccidati

A loaded, colorful cookie platter is just the thing to bring cheer to your family, friends or coworkers. If you love fruity cookies like Fig Newtons, cuccidati, a traditional Italian Christmas cookie, will become a mainstay of your holiday baking. These treats have a rich fruit and nut filling sandwiched inside tender dough. Fig cookies are perfect for festive occasions, everyday snacking or lunchboxes.

Although these Italian fig cookies involve a few steps, the work can be spread across multiple days, making it easy to pull them off, even during the busy holiday season.

What are cuccidati?

Associated with Sicily but heavily influenced by Arab cuisine, cuccidati—pronounced coo-chi-dah-ti—are fruit-filled cookies glazed with snowy white icing and often dotted with colorful nonpareil sprinkles. Many families have special recipes for cuccidati cookies, which are usually served at Christmastime alongside other old-world Italian cookies. The most common filling is a mix of dried fruits, including figs, scented with orange.

Ingredients for Cuccidati

• Dried fruit: The Italian fig cookies recipe calls for a combination of raisins, dates and figs to make the dense fruit filling. If you don’t have the exact amounts called for the recipe, mixing and matching as you desire is fine. Flame raisins are juicier than Thompson raisins, so they’re a great choice if you can find them.
• Sugars: You’ll use granulated sugar in the filling and dough, then confectioners’ sugar (aka powdered sugar) in the icing. Don’t have the latter? Make confectioners’ sugar at home.
• Navel oranges: Because they’re seedless, navel oranges are great to use in recipes that call for fruit segments—no messy seed hunting required. Make sure to choose fresh, ripe oranges.
• Walnuts: Nuts mellow out the sweetness of the cookie filling and make it feel decadent. The slightly bitter flavor of walnuts is a plus here, but you can swap in hazelnuts, almonds or pine nuts. Toast the nuts for more flavor.
• Shortening: It may be tempting to treat shortening and butter as interchangeable, but they aren’t the same: Shortening is 100% fat, while butter is 80% fat and 20% water. You can trade fats when needed, but know that doing so will change the texture and flavor of your baked goods.
• Eggs: Use good grade A large eggs. Baking with room-temperature eggs is key. If your kitchen is warm, the eggs will take about 30 minutes to reach room temperature on the counter. If it’s cold, give the eggs a little bit longer.
• Milk: The cuccidati cookies recipe calls for 2% milk, but you can use full-fat milk. For a dairy-free option, use any plant-based milk you prefer.
• Vanilla extract: Use natural vanilla extract in all of your baked goods. It has a much more nuanced flavor than the imitation version.
• Flour: Run-of-the-mill all-purpose flour is perfect for Italian fig cookies.
• Salt: A bit of salt offsets the sweetness of desserts, so don’t skip it. You could also add a pinch to the filling if you like.
• Leavening agents: You’ll use baking powder and baking soda in the fig cookies, making the dough nice and tender.

Directions

Step 1: Prep the filling

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Place the raisins, dates, sugar, orange sections, figs, walnuts and water in a food processor. Cover and process until finely chopped. Set aside.

Editor’s Tip: The filling should be moist but not loose. A too-dry filling will be crumbly.

Step 2: Make the dough

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In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy, five to seven minutes. Beat in the eggs, milk and vanilla. In another small bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well.

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Divide the dough into four portions. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Editor’s Tip: If you have a stand mixer, you can use it to make the dough. In that case, creaming the shortening and sugar together won’t take as long, so check the mixing bowl after three or four minutes.

Step 3: Roll out the dough

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Roll each portion of dough between two pieces of parchment or waxed paper into a 16×6-inch rectangle.

Step 4: Add the filling

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Spread 1 cup filling lengthwise down the center of each rectangle.

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Starting at one of the long sides, fold the dough over the filling, then fold the dough from the other side over the top. Pinch the seams and edges to seal.

Editor’s Tip: This can get a little sticky, so you may want to keep a small water bowl nearby to wet your fingers. If the dough gets too soft, once you form the sausage-shaped log, roll it into a piece of storage wrap and chill it for an hour or two before cutting.

Step 5: Cut the cookies

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Cut each rectangle diagonally into 1-inch strips.

Step 6: Bake the cookies

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Place seam side down on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake the cookies until the edges are golden brown, 10 to 14 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cookies from the pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Step 7: Glaze the cookies

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For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and enough milk to reach the desired consistency.

Editor’s Tip: You want the glaze to be pourable without sugar clumps but not so liquid that it runs right off the cookies when you drizzle it on. The right texture will form a shell and harden after a few minutes.

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Drizzle the glaze over the cookies. Store the glazed cookies in an airtight container.

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Recipe Variations

• Tweak the fruit: The trio of raisin, date and fig is classic, but almost any dried fruits will work in cuccidati cookies. Chopped dried apricots (unsulfured if possible) or dried cherries would be a particularly good addition.
• Spice the filling: The dense fruit filling in these cookies is a great base for warm spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom or fennel. Chopped or grated semi-sweet chocolate is another exceptional addition. Want to make your cuccidati super special? Replace the vanilla with fiori di Sicilia, a flavoring made with the oil of Italian citrus fruits that is available to purchase in specialty bake shops or online.
• Booze it up: Some Italian fig cookies use Masala wine in the filling. You can also try rum, brandy or bourbon.
• Use premade filling: To make cuccidati cookies with fewer dishes to wash and a quicker turnaround time, try using a store-bought jam for the filling. Apricot is popular, but any jam you like will do.
• Glam up the topping: Immediately after icing the cookies, before the glaze dries, is the perfect time to add a little glitz: Apply some colorful sprinkles, a bit of citrus zest, chopped pistachios, a shake of fragrant spice or a glistening coat of luster dust—one of our favorite gourmet baking ingredients.

How to Store Cuccidati

Once the icing has hardened, you can store the cookies in an airtight container with pieces of parchment or waxed paper between the layers.

How long do cuccidati last?

Stored as directed, the cookies will keep for up to five days at room temperature.

Can you freeze cuccidati?

These cookies freeze well. Place them in a single layer in an airtight container, freeze and use within three months. They’re a perfect make-ahead Christmas cookie.

Can you make cuccidati ahead of time?

Yes! Both the filling and the dough can be made up to three days ahead of time. To stretch out this Italian fig cookies recipe so that you don’t have to do too much work on any one day, make the filling first, the dough the next day and assemble the cookies on day three.

Cuccidati Tips

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Should you cool the cuccidati before decorating?

Yes. Heat will keep the glaze from setting, so cool the cookies to room temperature before drizzling on the icing.

What’s another way to glaze cuccidati?

You can dip the top of the cooled cookie in the glaze for a smoother look. Consider using food coloring to color the glaze, even separating the glaze into different bowls and adding several colors for a truly festive look for any holiday.