It Just Wouldn't be Christmas without fig cookies

Italian Fig Cookies

I make them every Christmas. Each year I wonder why I don't make them more often but, I just don't. They are so good.

There are many variations on the fig cookie, this is but one of them. I wish I could call the recipe my own but, alas, I cannot. It's an amalgamation of a recipe from a Sicilian cook book modified with how my grandmother used to prepare them, and tweaked by me along the way.

The filling highlights are figs, orange rind, seedless raisins, cinnamon, and roasted walnuts. I'm not exactly sure what makes them so good...maybe it's the Jack Daniels...

The dough is a butter cookie dough and I roll it out, a layer the filling, and roll it like a jelly roll. This all became a BIG challenge when moving to Florida as the house temperature is much warmer than our New England home in December. The butter dough was just a sticky mess! The cure was to place a cookie sheet with ice water on the granite counter for about an hour before working the dough that I now keep in the refrigerator until I'm going to work it. Once the granite cools down, it stays cool for a long time. Works like a charm!

Think I'll go have a cup of coffee and...a cookie!