Saturday, August 25, 2007

Italian Fig Cookies

2 cups shortening
3 cups white sugar
6 eggs
8 cups all-purpose flour
7 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
pinch salt
milk
3 - 5 pounds of figs
1 pound raisins
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
1 whole orange (with peel)
1 small apple
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
To make dough, cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs, vanilla, and salt. Blend in flour and baking powder by hand. Knead dough until smooth and workable. Add milk to reach workable consistency.

To make filling, cut up figs, orange, and apple into small pieces, then pass through a food mill or grinder. The spices and chopped nuts are added to the ground fig mixture. After the fig mixture is ground, sprinkle them in over the mixture and mix it in by hand.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Roll out some dough faily thin. Put fig mixture in a line. Wrap dough over mixture, sealing figs inside dough. Trim to desired length, using a diagonal cut. Make small diagonal slits in the sides of the cookies. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes.

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