This video will teach you how to make Sicilian Fig Cookies.
Credit goes to Nina Scalia Bruscato, Mary Clare Davis' mother who is the originator of this recipe. Thanks to Frank Davis for sharing this with his audience on WWL-TV.
My mother Marie Bono Sanders also has a recipe for Fig Cookies that was handed down by my grand mother Lina Romano. I suppose she got her recipe from her mother who immigrated to the United States from Sicily.
I hope you enjoy the video and recipe. So far, these are the best fig cookies I've ever eaten!
FRANK DAVIS SICILIAN FIG COOKIES
THE COOKIE DOUGH:
8 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups melted Crisco shortening
2 whole eggs, beaten
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup scalded milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1.5 Ounces Pure Anise Extract
To make the dough, first mix together the flour and the baking soda in a large bowl. Then, in an electric mixer, whip the Crisco, eggs, sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth and fully blended. Now, a little at a time, add the flour to the Crisco/egg mix and knead it into a resilient 'doughball.' Hint: Dough hooks or a good processor do an excellent job of kneading and save you considerable time.
When the dough is ready, wrap it in plastic film and set it aside until you make the fig paste. Here's how that's done:
THE FIG MIXTURE: 1-1/2 lbs. dry figs
1/2 lb. dates
1/2 lb. raisins
1/2 lb. mixed nuts (walnuts/pecans)
1/2 orange (peel and all)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 lb. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 ounces Anise Extract
1 full jigger of whiskey
In a food grinder, fine-grind all the dried fruits and nuts, as well as the orange (or chop them fine with the cutting blade of your food processor). Then, in a large bowl, mix in the remaining ingredients and stir everything together well (again, the dough hook attachment on your mixer will save you a lot of time and elbow grease because the paste turns thick once the brown sugar is added).
Then, when everything is uniformly mixed, set the paste aside for about 10 minutes to 'cure.'
At this point, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Now, in small batches, roll out the dough and cut it into thin strips about 2 inches wide by 12 inches long. Then run a bead of the fig paste filling directly down the center of the dough strip and wrap the dough around the stuffing. Seal in the filling by rolling the dough back and forth with your fingertips a couple of times. Then cut the dough into cookies about 2 inches long, place them on a greased cookie sheet, and bake them at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until they turn a honey brown.
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A Little Italian Lagniappe
** If you want to make real Sicilian sesame cookies, just make the dough, roll it out with your fingertips into a 3/4 inch diameter tube shape, cut the tube into 2 inch cookies, top each one with toasted sesame seeds, and bake them on a greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. You'll think you're sitting in the Piazza d'Italia in Rome!
Note: This is the guarded recipe of the late Nina Scalia Bruscato, who gave it to me because I married her youngest daughter. There are no better Italian cookies anywhere! Thanks, Mama!
Chef Mike’s Notes:
Making the Cookies
I weighed out 10 ounces of cookie dough and I rolled it into a long narrow roll.
Then using a rolling pin, I rolled out the dough 12 inches long and 4 inches wide.
I weighed out 5 ounces of fig filling. With WET hands to keep the filling from sticking to my hands, I rolled the filling out into a long narrow tube. Kinda like a hot dog. Then I positioned that filling in the center of the cookie dough from one end to the other.
Then I rolled the dough over the filling making a long tubular cookie. At that time, I cut the cookies in 1.5 to 2 inch pieces to get them ready for baking.
Making the filling
I sprayed the inside of my grinder with cooking oil to keep the filling from sticking to the throat of the grinder. That worked!
I also grinded everything that went in the fig filling including the orange and sugar.
Then I used a large spoon to mix the filling so all the flavors blend together.
If you don’t use all the filling, seal it in a vacuum seal bag and freeze it for the next batch.
The Dough
I tried sprinkling flour on the table and on the cookie dough before rolling the dough. That worked.
Rolling out a cookie dough will cause some cracking unless you sprinkle on some flour.
Either way, it’s a labor of love and you should be proud that you are learning to make the best Sicilian cookies.
At the printing of this recipe, Pam and I have made over 200 fig cookies and we will make more when these run out.
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