Inspired by Sicilian cucidati, fig cookies, this lemon-glazed tart is a holiday work of art.
Call me lazy — but not so lazy that I’d pass up the ideal holiday pastry.
I was crazy about cucidati, Sicilian tender-butter-crust filled fig and nut cookies, that are sweet, spicy and tart all at once. I’d gotten the recipe from Lee Davis and her son Tom Giliberto for a story I wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times. This was back when I had two young children and a full-time job so I didn’t have much spare time to roll and shape dozens of little stuffed pastry gems.
My AHA moment occurred when I realized I could adapt the recipe to make one BIG cookie (a tart baked in a removable bottom tart pan) that I could slice into wedges. For the winter holidays, I prepare this dessert up to a week before serving covered with foil and stored in a cool place. The honey, brandy, orange zest and spices actually mellow with time and enhance the flavor.
Italian-American master baker Nick Malgieri writes, “No one seems to agree about exactly what — besides figs — goes into the filling for these classic Sicilian cookies.” His version in Cookies Unlimited calls for almonds which are more typically Sicilian than walnuts. I, however, prefer walnuts but feel free to choose your own nut. Another area of confusion is the name. I have read many variations, including cuccidati, buccellati, and cuddureddi. Undoubtedly, they are all irresistible.
Have you eaten or baked Sicilian fig cookies? What are the ingredients that make yours special? What do you call them?
Fig-Walnut Tart with Lemon Glaze
Makes 12 servings
Tart:
1 recipe Vanilla Sweet Pastry Dough (follows)
1 1/8 cups (4 ounces) walnut halves, toasted (see note)
1 package (8 ounces) dried figs, stems removed, halved
1/2 cup raisins
Grated rind of 1 navel orange
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup Brandy or B & B liqueur
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Glaze:
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
To prepare the tart: Coat a 10-inch springform pan with no-stick spray.
Prepare the dough. Cut off one-third of the dough. Pat into a disk; refrigerate for 10 minutes. Pat the remaining dough over the bottom and 1 inch up the side of the pan. Prick all over with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll the refrigerated disk between two sheets of floured waxed paper into a 10-inch circle. Slide the waxed paper onto a baking sheet; refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F.
In a food processor, grind the nuts finely. Add the figs, raisins, and orange zest. Process until the mixture sticks together like paste.
Place the honey in a mixing bowl. Add the Brandy or liqueur and cinnamon. Whisk to combine. Add the fig mixture and mix slowly to combine. Spoon into the prepared pan, spreading evenly. Remove the dough circle from the refrigerator. Carefully remove the top sheet of waxed paper. Turn the dough circle over on top of the filling. Carefully remove the waxed paper. With a fork, tuck the edges of the top inside the side crust. Tamp the edges to seal.
Bake for about 35 minutes or until the crust is golden. Remove to a rack to cool.
To prepare the glaze: In a bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Stir to make a glaze. Add up to 2 more teaspoons of juice if needed until the glaze drips off the spoon when lifted. Pour over the tart. Spread with the back of the spoon. Allow to set.
Note
Toasting the nuts greatly improves the flavor. Spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place in a 350° F. oven for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the nuts are golden. Remove from the sheet to cool.
Sweet Pastry Dough
Makes one 10-inch round crust with top crust or lattice; one 13-by-9-inch crust; one 12-inch round crust
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
2 egg yolks, beaten with 1 tablespoon milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
To prepare by hand: In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, and salt with a fork, pastry blender, or hands. Add the butter. Cut or break it up into fine bits, mixing well with the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center. Add the egg yolk mixture. Toss to mix. The mixture will look crumbly. Turn the mixture out onto a work surface. With hands and a dough scraper, work the mixture into a smooth disk.
To prepare in a food processor: In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, cornstarch, sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Process to mix. Add the butter. Pulse 12 to 15 times to incorporate. With the machine running, drizzle in the egg yolk mixture. Turn off the machine. Pulse 6 times. The mixture will look crumbly. Turn the mixture out onto a work surface. With hands and a dough scraper, work the mixture into a smooth disk.
My Italian family recipe is made with figs, pieces of golden delicious apples, raisins, walnuts and a small amount of sugar spread on top of it all. We would roll out our oil pastry and place all ingredients on top and then roll up the pastry into a roll, which we would then curve into a circle. Bake till light golden brown, pull out of oven and brush honey on top. Put back in oven for 10 minutes more. It was the best, my childhood was the best!
The addition of black pepper and coffee to the cucidati sounds amazing! Seriously, two of my favorite seasonings. I can’t wait to try it. This pastry is so wonderful. It seems endlessly variable. I’m going to forward your comment to Lee Davis from whom I first got the recipe for cucidati. I think she’ll really enjoy it. Thanks for commenting!
Hi Sharon,
This is similar to my family’s favorite cookie for many generations. Growing up, we called these “pooch-ih-dottie” which is how they were referred to by my entire Sicilian immigrant family from about 1900. I searched in vain for the better part of the 1980’s and 90’s to find a similarly named recipe. Finally, I found a recipe with similar ingredients called cuddureddi. Then I found the cuccidati, which to my relatives who transcribed few recipes into printed form, most certainly became our “poochidati.”
These are the ingredients: 4 rings dried kalamata string figs (many don’t have the strings any more), large whole seeded orange, 1 lb. walnuts, 1 lb. raisins, 1. lb white raisins/currants/sultanas, ~1tsp. fresh ground black pepper, ~2 tsp. ground cinnamon, and very strong hot black coffee.
After snipping the tops from the figs, we grind all dry ingredients together with spices and orange into a thick paste, and typically grind it twice. Taste and adjust to liking, add black coffee until well absorbed to desired consistency. Cover ball of filling with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator (but Grandma’s sat out in a cool location) for at least a day. We have stored this filling under refrigeration for a couple of weeks covered with plastic tightly in its container which is also covered, like Tupperware. If the filling seems dry after coming back to room temperature, add more coffee. Our method for cooking has become three. One makes a pastry, one uses their own pie dough, and I have actually substituted refrigerated pie dough with great results, but I’m not telling….
Spoon the filling down the center of a 4 inch wide strip of dough, loosely pinching the generous tops together, then poking slits on each side of the top seam. Bake at 350 until the bottoms begin to become golden. These are immediately sliced on the diagonal into two or three inch logs and cooled. We drizzle with glaze (sometimes anise, lemon, or plain) and sprinkle with chocolate, colored sugars, dots, etc., or we leave them plain. We store these a long time–up to a month without refrigeration in a covered container.
I have seen this recipe with wine, brandy, vino cotto, espresso, dark chocolate, honey, dried fruits, dates, and almonds.
I think there’s an incredible difference when the filling is left to envelop all flavors for a couple of days before cooking.
Now I have a tart recipe to WOW everyone. Mom’s 85, so we’ll see if it meets the challenge.
Thanks!
Jon
Ciao, Jon,
The addition of black pepper and coffee to the cucidati sounds amazing! Seriously, two of my favorite seasonings. I can’t wait to try it. This pastry is so wonderful. It seems endlessly variable. I’m going to forward your comment to Lee Davis from whom I first got the recipe for cucidati. I think she’ll really enjoy it. Thanks for commenting!
Sharon, it was great to hear back from you as well.
However, I do not live in Pennsylvania, but it is near and dear to my heart having been born there. I was born on the second highest hill in Pennsylvania called Fresh Air Hill in a town called Glenfield, near Harrisburg. I rather suspect that those names have since been changed, however, my Mother and Father farmed, and my mother, an excellent cook and baker did all of her baking in an outdoor oven that I suspect was built by my father. However,I still have relatives all over the east coast from New York thru Jersey and Pa.
How did you happen to move there?
I believe you have my e mail so that we can communicate from time to time,if you wish,and when those figs I mentioned come in season around Christmas I would love to send you some. They are really easy to grind and wonderful to use. Also, if you want I can also share with you some other tried and true family recipes. Shall I continue to use your blog or is there another e mail address to use? By the way, great blog. Lee Davis
Hi Sharon:
Nice to be in touch with you again. My older son Matthew came upon this while researching some family history and passed it on to me.
Needless to say I was both surprised and very pleased to see it and I thank you for acknowledging the origin of the recipe.
Needless to say I have made many many cuccidati since then,often as a family project with the grandchildren. They are a wonderful treat and while I will try the wreath, I will pass along a way to cut down on the filling and shaping time, not to mention how much more filling you get to enjoy in each bite. I have for years cut squares about 5 in. long by 3 in. wide, filled and rolled like a cigar, sealing and baking seam side down. They have become my favorite shape. They also keep for a very long time in a cookie tin. Though I do not cook or bake as much as I did in the past when all the children were home, it is still my favorite thing to do and I often develop recipes to cook for family get togethers.
Thanks for the opportunity to reminisce and for the record, you are now living in my hometown of Pa. Lee Davis
P.S. I have had a new source for figs for years and they are so superior to any others I have used. The store where I buy them dries them themselves and they are plump,semi soft and almost golden in color.
Lee,
Oh my gosh, it is so wonderful to hear from you. It’s ironic that I was at a party last night and a friend mentioned how much she loves that fig tart recipe! It sounds as if you are well. Where are you in PA? I live in Pa now too.
Sharon
We call them cuccidati, a holiday cookie, sometimes made into a ring and sliced, or made individually. Thanks for the post. My recipe stews the dried figs with honey, sugar, lemon and orange zest and juice, cinnamon, almonds, raisins, espresso, citron..when it gets real thick, it’s rolled into the cuccidati dough, milk washed, sprinkled with the tiny colored candy balls..always better a few days after you’ve baked them. They are sold year round in better Italian pastry shops in the NY/NJ area. Great post.
The espresso is an interesting ingredients. I’ll bet it cuts through the sweetness of the fruit and honey.
p.s. I told him he needed to make the tart for New Year’s Eve, but he is arriving at our house from London just before the clock strikes midnight and doesn’t think he will have the time…I told him that was a pretty lame excuse!
So, I passed along this recipe to my friend Vic and he is very interested in whipping up this little tart.
He wrote me back saying: I checked out the recipe. It looks great and I’ve already added it to my set of fig recipes. Not sure I can get it finished in time to be at your party before midnight on New Year’s – can I arrive a little later? Believe it or not it is similar to the mince pies I make, but the family version. You’ll recall they are filled with a mixture of fruits – raisin, currant, sultanas, orange rind etc. though obviously no figs, which we never got in the UK. I’ll track down more of the Sicilian dish the tart is based on – I wouldn’t be surprised if it is even more similar to mince pies.
Vic’s right. Those minced dried fruit pies with liquor in them had long-keeping qualities — perfect for wintertime.
Over the years, this tart has become a most special holiday taste memory-maker for me. It’s special as a dessert…and even more wonderful as a breakfast treat.
This looks really good. Now that all my traditional “American” holiday baking is done, I can start experimenting with new recipes. I will also certainly pass this recipe along to my good friend Vic, who has a fig tree in his yard, and is always on the look out for a new fig recipes to try out!
What a gift Vic has! Folks here in wintry Pennsylvania actually bend their fig trees and bury them in mounds to survive the cold. By the way, the tart recipe calls for dried, not fresh figs.