Italian Fig Cookies
By: Angela LeMoine
Published: Saturday, December 7, 2013 - 8:04am

Ingredients




For the Dough:
2 3/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp butter, cold & cubed
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp cold water
For the Filling:
12 oz dried figs
1/4 cup almonds
3 Tbsp apricot preserves
2 Tbsp orange juice
For the Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk or water
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preparation

1 To a food processor, add the the flour, baking powder, powdered sugar and salt. Pulse until well combined. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides to be sure everything is worked in. 2 Add the butter in and mix until the butter resembles a small crumble in the dry ingredients. In a small bowl whisk together the eggs, water and vanilla. Add to the food processor and mix until just mostly combined. 3 Lightly flour your counter and turn the dough out. Work the dough together by hand until everything is combined. This is where you may need to sprinkle a little extra flour as you go. Form the dough into a ball and allow to rest for a few minutes. 4 While the dough is resting you can go ahead and make the filling. Into a clean food processor add the almonds and figs. Pulse until roughly chopped. Add in the apricot preserves and orange juice and mix until finely chopped. It will resemble a thick fig jam. 5 Back to the dough. Cut the ball of dough into 6-8 pieces. Roll each piece into a smaller ball then lightly press down one small ball at a time on a floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a strip about 1- 1 1/2 inches wide and a 1/4 inch thick. Line the center with a bit of the filling. 6 Fold each side of the dough overtop the filling and gently press the dough together to seal it. Gently roll into a smooth log.  Cut into bite size cookies. 7 Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 8 Repeat with all the dough. Place the cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet. They don't grow so you can put them pretty close together. 9 Bake for 14 mins or until just lightly golden. Cool completely. 10 To make the glaze mix together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract in a small bowl. 11 Once the cookies are cooled go ahead and put them all onto a large cookie sheet so the cookies are touching. Working in small sections because the glaze dries quickly, drizzle the glaze over each cookie and sprinkle with those fun nonpareils. Pop into a fridge for 10 minutes to harden completely. 12 {If you are making these ahead of time, once the drizzle is hardened you can place into a freezer bag to freeze. Remove the morning you want to serve them}

About

In our family Christmas cookies are kind of a big deal. We host Christmas day at our house and all I ask people to bring is dessert and let me tell ya, we end up with platters and platters full of homemade cookies. The famous ones are my grandparents gigi {struffoli- I have no clue where gigi came from but its what we call them} and my moms seven layers. 
I happened to have a whole bunch of dried figs leftover from Thanksgiving so decided to turn them into cookies! These are a bit time consuming but they turn out delicious and beautiful. The cookie is bite size, soft & tender and the filling slightly sweet. Finished off with a little glaze & nonpareil sprinkles!
{NOTE: The dough is sticky, you may need to add a little flour as you work it on your counter}