Cookies filled with figs and walnuts, an easy and quick treat to prepare, great to munch on at any time of the day, with a shell of buttery shortcrust and a soft filling of dried figs with walnuts and honey. I had been thinking for a long time about making filled cookies with figs, similar to the Christmas sweets from Reggio Calabria, the Petrali, which are shortcrust crescents filled with dried figs, but then I thought why not try a new version, similar to the September cookies, and so here they are these delicious cookies scented with cinnamon and orange that are perfect to accompany a cup of tea, or to enjoy for breakfast, or while sipping a good coffee, in short, any moment is a good one, and with this delicious filling, they are really liked by everyone.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 20 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: About 20 pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for cookies filled with figs and walnuts
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 7 tbsps butter
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 1/2 cups dried figs
- 1 cup walnuts
- 2 tsps honey
- 1 shot rum
- to taste cinnamon
- zest of 1 orange
Tools to prepare cookies with figs and walnuts
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Food processor
- 1 Pastry board
- 1 Rolling pin
- 1 Knife
- 1 Brush
Steps to prepare cookies filled with figs and walnuts
Let’s start preparing the shortcrust. Place the flour, sugar, and butter cut into small pieces cold from the fridge in a large bowl. Start working to obtain a sandy mixture. Add the baking powder, lemon zest, and an egg, and start kneading to obtain a homogeneous dough. Since we are using only one egg, we need some liquid. I used lemon juice, but a little milk or liquor, water to obtain a soft shortcrust is also fine. Let it rest in the fridge while we prepare the filling.
Prepare the figs to be chopped, remove the attachment and cut them into small pieces. Place them in a food processor with the walnuts and add the liquor. You can prepare half at a time to avoid putting too much strain on the food processor
Put the mixture in a bowl, add cinnamon, honey, and orange zest and mix, the filling is ready. The filling should be quite firm, not too soft.
Take the shortcrust from the fridge, if it is hard, soften it by working it quickly. Roll it out on a floured surface with a rolling pin to obtain a rectangle, the pastry will be about 1/8 inch thick. Divide the rectangle in half lengthwise to have 2 narrower rectangles.
Spread the filling on each rectangle to form a sausage along the entire length. Close with the first edge of the rectangle, then brush the surface with water and close with the other edge, thinning it slightly so that we have a fairly uniform thickness, close the edges well.
If the shortcrust is not too soft, we can immediately cut the cookies with a large smooth blade knife. To obtain cookies about 1 inch wide. If it is soft, put it in the fridge for an hour and then cut.
As we cut the cookies, place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Space them slightly apart and bake in a static oven at 360°F for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool before enjoying our cookies with fig and walnut filling.
