Cuccidati (Sicilian Fig Cookies)

Filling recipe:
8 Oz. Dry figs, hard tips discarded
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brandy
1 1/2 tsp orange zest
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup roasted walnuts, chopped
3/4 cup roasted almonds, chopped
**refrigerate overnight**

Pastry Dough:
4 cups AP flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla ext
1 tsp orange zest
**wrap and refrigerate overnight**

Icing
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla ext

Nonpareil Sprinkles for decoration

Day 1
Blend all of the filling ingredients in a food processor. Refrigerate this mixture overnight.
For the pastry dough, add butter and flour to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until you achieve a crumbly texture. Now add in sugar, baking poweder and salt. Pulse to mix. At this point, you can add in all the wet ingredients (eggs, milk, extract and orange zest). Pulse until a dough forms. Dump the dough onto plastic wrap, form a disc, wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece to 1/4 inch thick. Take a few tbsps of filling and with wet hands roll it out to a log. Place the log in the center of each piece of dough and trim off the excess on each side. Fold both sides over on the fig filling and flip the dough over seam side down and press down. Cut the log into 2 inch sections. With a paring knife, make 2 slits into each section. At this point you can make any design you like. Place on a parchment line baking sheet. Bake@350Ffor 25 mins.

While the cookies are baking, make the icing. Mix all of the icing ingredients and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Once the cookies have cooled, user a pastry brush to brush the icing onto each cookie. Top with nonpareil sprinkles.