Name: Cuccidati (Sicilian Fig Pastries)
Yield: Makes About 12
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 2.5 ml/½ tsp vanilla extract; 250 g/9 oz/generous 2 cups plain/all-purpose flour; 5 ml/1 tsp baking powder; 1 whole egg or 2 egg yolks, well beaten; 15 ml/1 tbsp milk; finely grated rind of 1 unwaxed orange; 300 ml/½ pint/1 ¼ cups sweet dessert wine or sherry; 200 g/7 oz/1 cup caster/superfine sugar, plus extra for sprinkling; 115 g/4 oz/1 cup shelled walnuts; finely grated rind of 1 unwaxed lemon; 1.5 ml/¼ tsp salt; 450 g/1 lb/2⅔ cups hard dried figs; 450 g/1 lb/2⅔ cups sultanas/golden raisins or raisins; 115 g/8 oz/½ cup unsalted butter, softened; 115 g/4 oz/1 cup blanched almonds

Preparation info

Makes About
12

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Italian Regional Cookbook

By Valentina Harris

Published 2017

About

The sticky, nutty, Sicilian sweetmeat that forms the middle of these pastries is also wonderful on its own or with salty pecorino cheese. About one-tenth of the sweetmeat will be used to fill the pastries in this recipe, but there is no point making it in small batches as it keeps extremely well for up to a year, so store the rest in your refrigerator. The flavour develops and changes over the months, as the mixture ferments gently with the monthly addition of the dessert wine.