I wouldn't necessarily say you need a specific brand, just a good quality butter and ones with less water tend to work best.

Hi Caroline,
Any suggestion if you cant find the Plugrá Block butter?

I hope you enjoy! So as you'll see in the recipe, I always make it as a log then cut into the individual cookies, but if you add up the filling ingredients, then divide by the recipe yield, you get approximately 1 1/4 cups of filling between 14 cookies, so that would be a little under 1 1/2 tablespoons per cookie. But that's definitely approximate - some of the fruits likely pack down a bit as you blend them so it may be a little less.

Always worth giving them a little test 🙂 So glad you enjoyed!

You can just skip it, or if you feel the mixture is not moist enough, then add up to the equivalent amount of fruit just instead eg apple or orange juice which would pair pretty well flavor-wise.

Indeed, I know that's the proper Italian spelling, though it seems it is generally written with one "c" when translated to English, for whatever reason, and that seems to be what is more widely used/searched for hence I titled it that way, but appreciate the comment!

I think you could, I would just note that figs are more seedy than the other fruits, so it will impact the texture.

So I think as a base it could work, but you may want to add a little more to it. Fig jam is generally sweetened quite a lot and is probably not as thick as the mixture you would make here so may run. But you could maybe try the jam blended with some raisins and nuts to get a slightly thicker, less sweet mixture.

You know, I always thought it should be spelled that way, but pretty much every recipe I saw used one c and so I second-guessed myself and followed, but agree cuccidati does seem the proper Italian spelling.

So glad to hear you enjoyed them! I haven't tried making a small pie with leftover filling, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

Those sound like wonderful memories. How wonderful that she had a fig tree - I wish our climate suited it as I love the smell (as well as the figs, of course).

Maple glaze sounds tasty, too! Though I do really like the slight tartness of the lemon as a contrast to the sweet. Delicious cookies either way, for sure.

Love these.p

I'm so glad you found the recipe, then, and sounds like they brought back delicious memories! They are one of my favorites as well.

I am so glad to hear that they went down well and that you continue to enjoy them!

This is the traditional filling, but I imagine you could try others - just I'd say make sure it's not too liquid or it won't hold in there.

I generally use cold, and think it is slightly better, but it doesn't matter too much since you will be chilling the dough after. Hope you enjoy!

That's wonderful to hear!

You're welcome! Interesting, I find these pretty sweet as the fruits are naturally sweet, but I guess it depends what you are used to and it is certainly a different type of sweet from, say, a sugar cookie. And yes, chilling or freezing can help the log firm up, I would just say not too long or it can be too hard to cut easily.

I'd suggest maybe apple juice would be a good alternative.

any substitute for the alcohol

I haven't tried but it may well work. The only things are I'd be a little worried the mixture will be too wet and might run during cooking. Also, fresh figs tend to have a slightly more delicate flavor and actually the slightly stronger dried fig flavor is better here.

Can you use fresh figs instead of dried?

There are a few things you can generally use as egg substitutes like flaxseed meal, but I am not sure they would necessarily work here since the texture is a bit different - these should be pretty smooth. Also, it's a mixture of richness and texture it's adding here. Possibly, using a little more butter and a little more milk may work to be relatively close, but I'm afraid I can't say for sure. I would try the dough as written without the egg, see how soft/crumbly it is, and add a little from there as needed.

Any substitute for egg?

I'm so glad to hear that! I agree they are truly delicious cookies.

Thanks, they are such a delicious combination! The filling has lots of tasty flavor and the pastry pairs so well. Enjoy!

Thank you! And yes, really not that difficult and so worth making.

They are definitely a little unusual but really tasty - hope you enjoy!