Cuccidati Cookies
Ingredients
Filling
- ½ cup walnuts
- ½ cup almonds
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 tangerine/clementine or orange, (citrus) peel and segments, remove any seeds
- 2 cups dried figs, hard stems removed
- ¾ cup raisins
- ½ cup pitted dates
- 1 cup candied fruit cake glace mix
- ½ cup water
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ cup brandy, optional
Dough
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon Fleischmann's® Baking Powder
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup cold milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Icing Glaze
- 4 tablespoons orange juice
- 2 cups icing (powdered) sugar
- sprinkles or nonpareils of your choice
Equipment
- Baking sheet, piping bag or large freezer bag
PRODUCTS
Instructions
- To make the filling, preheat oven to 350°F. Using a large baking sheet, spread out nuts and citrus peel and toast in oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven to cool.
- Microwave a ½ cup water In a microwave safe cup until it boils, about 1 minute. Add 3 tablespoons sugar, stir to dissolve.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the dried fruit, candied glace fruit mix, tangerine wedges and toasted nuts and citrus peel. Using a food processor, work in batches if there is too much at once, add this mixture and pulse until finely chopped and comes together. Use a bit of the hot sugar water as needed to add to the mixture if it becomes to thick and sticky to pulse, reserve any left for later to soften filling more before making the cookies. Transfer mixture back to your large bowl and stir in the brandy, if using or more sugar water. Mixture should be soft, but not sloppy. Cover and refrigerate overnight, (you can use it immediately if you choose).
- In a large bowl, whisk to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and salt. Blend in shortening with a fork or pastry blender, you can also use a food processor until it resembles fine crumb.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, add milk, vanilla and zest, mix well. Add to dry ingredients, mix well, dough will be soft. Divide dough into two discs, cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for about one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove fig filling from fridge and fill a piping bag, cut a 1 hole cut in tip.
- Working on a lightly floured surface, knead dough with a few tablespoons of flour until smooth, about 3 minutes. Roll one disc of dough out into a large rectangle ? thick. Trim sides to make straight edges, save trimmings to reroll. Cut dough into long 3 ¼ wide strips. Pipe a 1 wide tube of filling down the center. Carefully fold over the dough over the filling, gently roll to pinch seams, placing seam side down, lightly flatten. Cut tube on a slant into 1 ½ long cookies. Make a small slit about ½ deep along one edge of each cookie, place on baking sheet 1 apart. Repeat with remaining dough, bake in batches until complete.
- Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes on middle rack, then move to top rack for 5-7 minutes to brown slightly. You can start another tray of cookies on the middle rack at this time. Repeat until all cookies are baked. Remove to wire rack to cool slightly.
- Combine icing sugar with orange juice and vanilla, spoon over warm cookies, sprinkle with nonpareils if desired. Allow to dry completely before storing.
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