Cucciddati - Christmas Cookies from Italy

What you will need for Cucciddati (Italian Christmas cookies) for a large family get together. This recipe makes about 20 dozen single Italian Christmas cookies:

In the dough goes half a pound lard, half a pound vegetable shortening, half a pound sugar, along with 10 eggs, 6 tablespoons baking powder, an orange, and 7 cups flour. For the filling, you'll need water, 2 pounds of dates (pitted), 2 pounds of dried figs, a cup of chopped walnuts, a cup of sugar.

The Italian Christmas cookies require the following ingredients in the frosting: Six cups powdered sugar, a stick margarine, milk, and colored sprinkles as the decoration.

Create the dough by mixing the lard and shortening in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Afterwards, add the sugar. Then come the eggs, baking powder, orange juice and rind. Add flour bit by bit until the dough is easy to handle and shape. Make sure the dough isn't too sticky or very flaky. Stick the mixture in the refrigerator until you can bake it.

Preheat the oven to about 350 degrees and roll out the dough to a thickness of a slender finger. If the dough is a little too soft to do that, try freezing it for a little while until it becomes hard enough. Cut the dough into stripes that are approx. eight inches long and 3 inches wide, and after preparing the filling as shown below, add a strip of the filling lengthwise along the center of each dough piece. Then fold each piece's dough over from both sides to cover the filling. You'll get the hang of it in no time. Seal the connection a little by pushing down on it slightly. Now go ahead and cut the pieces with diagonal cuts in 2" lengths and bake them for 12-15 minutes. They're done when they turn golden brown. Take them out of the oven and let them cool down.

For the filling you should grind the dates and figs and mix them with the other filling ingredients in a pot. Set it on low heat so the sugar can dissolve nicely. It should only take around 15-20 minutes to get a nice filling out of the mixture. Then, let it cool before you add it to the main dough (as shown above).

The frosting can be prepared separately by simply mixing the margarine and sugar together and slowly adding a cup of milk until you have a nice, smooth mixture that is easy to apply. Once you have baked the dough and filling and let the cookies cool down, put the frosting on top of the cookies with a knife and add some baking decorations on top of the frosting. Enjoy your Cucciddati!