Italian Fig Cookies

These are the Italian cookies that show up at every Italian-American Christmas table, and baking a batch from scratch is worth every minute of the effort. A rich, buttery dough gets rolled thin, filled with a cooked mixture of dried figs, raisins, walnuts, and cinnamon, then folded and sealed into little half-moon pockets.

Soaking the dried figs in hot water for 5 minutes softens them enough to chop and cook down into a thick, jammy filling. Skip this step and you’ll be fighting tough, leathery chunks that won’t hold together.

Cooking the filling over low heat until it thickens is what makes the difference between cookies that hold their shape and ones that leak fruit juice all over the baking sheet. The filling should be thick enough to mound on a spoon without running.

Kitchen Tips

• Roll the dough thin. Thick dough overwhelms the filling and you end up tasting mostly cookie with barely any fig. Think pie crust thickness.
• Seal the edges firmly with a fork or your fingers after moistening with water. Any gaps and the filling bubbles out during baking.
• Let the filling cool completely before assembling. Warm filling melts the butter in the dough and makes it impossible to handle.
• This recipe makes 6 dozen, so plan to share or freeze. They freeze beautifully for up to 3 months in airtight containers with parchment between layers.

Variations

• Add a drizzle of white icing (powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla) over the cooled cookies for the bakery-style finish.
• Mix in chopped dried apricots or dates with the figs for a more complex fruit filling.
• Add a splash of anise liqueur to the filling for a traditional Italian bakery flavor that pairs naturally with the figs.