Photo: Sicilian Fig Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
For the Filling:
- 1 cup whole almonds, toasted
- 1 cup dried figs, stemmed
- Finely grated zest of 1 orange
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
- 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- Silver nonpareils, for decorating
Directions
Make the dough: Pulse the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until it looks like coarse meal. Whisk the yolks, vanilla and lemon zest and juice, then add to the food processor and pulse until the dough holds together when pinched (stop before it gathers into a ball). Turn out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and knead into a disk. Wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
Meanwhile, make the filling: Pulse the almonds in a clean food processor until coarsely chopped; transfer to a saucepan. Pulse the figs in the food processor until finely chopped and add to the saucepan along with the orange zest, wine, honey and cocoa powder. Cook over medium heat, stirring, 5 minutes. Let cool.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough into about 24 balls, then flatten into 2-inch disks. Place 1 heaping teaspoon filling in the center. Wrap the pastry over the filling, then roll into a ball, covering the filling. Put on the prepared baking sheets, cover and refrigerate about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until the cookies are lightly browned, 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Make the glaze: Whisk the confectioners' sugar and orange zest and juice in a bowl. Brush the cookies with the glaze and top with the nonpareils. Let set, about 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.
Photograph by Steve Giralt
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By robdurante
Philly PA
on December 21, 2012
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They take some time to make but most really good things do. This has become my signature cookie for Christmas. Coming from an Italian family we just love figs and red wine. Great cookie and worth the extra work, lots of depth and not too sweet. I'm the kind of person that could cook all day to treat my friends to the finer things in life.
I use a round meat hammer to press out the dough in to nice circles then cup in my palm and fill. Gently close off the opening by pinching and smoothing. It is important to work in batches to keep the dough cool. It is a pastry dough that is delicate as pie dough.
By lora lynn
Athens, Ga
on December 15, 2012
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Mine didn't come out looking as delicate as the food network photo : Made 26 large cookies. Dough is like pie dough (makes sense from instructions. I agree, the dough crumbled when I tried to wrap it around the filing. And that part was time consuming. I did save time (and pots by not cooking the filing and added 1/4 cup OJ instead of 1/2 cup wine. Good tasting and complexed flavors.
By Andrea1972
on December 14, 2010
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These cookies were VERY time consuming, but also VERY DELICIOUS!! For some reason I had lots of fig mixture left over, so I may re-make the dough for another batch. The dough was on the firm side, so I found it difficult to roll into balls, then flatten out without the dough cracking and separating. I wish the recipe would yield more cookies considering the time involved. Overall, excellent tasting, but very time consuming.
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