Sicilian Culture - The Food: Grandma's Italian Fig Cookies Cuccidahti

The Food: Grandma's Italian Fig Cookies Cuccidahti

This makes about 50 dozen cookies, so plan on giving a lot out and/or cutting the ingredients in half!
Ingredients for Filling:
5 lbs figs
5 1/2 cups (approx) raisins
2 lbs nuts (I usually use pecans)
2 lbs pitted dates
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp orange extract
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 tsp alspice
1 cup simple syrup (and add extra a dash of brandy or whiskey if you want -- my Gramma often used whiskey)
Ingredients for Dough:
1 pound unsalted butter (original recipe used lard)
1 pound sugar
6 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 pounds flour
7 tsp baking powder
large pinch of salt
1 cup milk

To prepare filling: Grind figs, raisins, dates, and nuts. Add next 5 ingredients to the ground mixture. Mix the simple syrup to the ground mixture until the mixture is thoroughly wett. (Texture should be very tacky.)
To prepare dough: Cream butter. Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla; beat until creamy. Mix in a large pan the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the creamed mixture and knead will; slowly add milk during the kneading process.
Assemble the cookie.
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes in a 375F oven.

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