#Almonds

[vegan-nom-noms]

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[daily-deliciousness]

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[wojakgallery]

Title/Name: Soy Boy must watch Squirrel making almond butter Wojak Series:  Soyjak (Variants), Animal (Variant) Image submission by: wrenchwenches on Tumblr Image by: Unknown Main Tag: Soyjak Wojak

[najia-cooks]

[ID: Cookies stuffed with fruit and nuts and topped with glaze, sprinkles, and candied orange peel. End ID]

Cucciddati (Sicilian cookies with dates and figs)

This Sicilian fig cookie was one of my great-grandmother's Christmas specialties. Crisp, buttery shortbread surrounds a rich, sweet filling of figs, dates, raisins, nuts, citrus, and spices, and the whole cookie is then topped with an orange juice glaze. The result is a complex, decadent, festive dessert that is also quite pretty. My great-grandmother always used rainbow sprinkles on hers, but you can also go for nonpareils, citrus zest, or candied citrus peel.

Time and place

Sicily is broadly known for having different sweets in different regions that are strongly identified with particular holidays: each village has its own patron saint with its own feast, and its own special sweet. Cucciddati are eaten throughout all of Sicily during Christmastime, but they are perhaps particularly associated with Palermo and Calatafimi. Usually the first cucciddatu of the season is eaten at the l'Immacolata (Feast of the Immaculate Conception), on December 8th.

Cucciddati are (like most foods) a mix of various regional influences that reflect the history of their birthplace. North African culinary influence on Sicily dates back at least to the Islamic conquest of the island from the 9th to the 11th centuries AD: citrus, almonds, and dried figs are prominent examples of it. Cucciddati may also have been influenced by "buccellati di Lucca"—ring-shaped loaves of bread studded with raisin and anise—that were brought from Lucca (in Tuscany, Italy) to Palermo along with a group of merchants who immigrated in the 14th century.

However the ancestors of modern cucciddati came together, some of their ingredients must certainly have been introduced after this time. The chocolate in the filling could not have been added before Spanish colonization in the Americas.

Language and history

These cookies are known as "buccellati" (singular "buccellato") in Italian, or as "cucciddati" (singular "cucciddatu") in Sicilian. Either word may also refer to a ring-shaped loaf of bread, a ring cake with a similar filling, or, indeed, any pastry with a hole in the center. The word "buccellato" comes from the Latin “buccellatum”, meaning "soldiers' biscuit" or "hardtack." One speculative etymology derives "buccellato" from the Italian "braccialetto," or "bracelet"; but this seems less likely.

The term "cucciddati" originally referred to ring-shaped loaves of bread that were divided and handed or thrown out into the crowd during Sicilian festivals, such as the festival of San Giuseppe in Palermo, or the Festa del Crocifisso (Feast of the Holy Cross) in Calatafimi. In centuries past, these loaves were so large that they were carried looped around one shoulder, like a rope: but, in modern festivals, they are much smaller. These loaves might be plain or, as one 1875 text indicates, flavored with seeds including anise and sesame.

Biblioteca delle tradizioni popolari siciliane (1900) describes the throwing of the bread at the Festa del Crocifisso in Calatafimi:

Entering from the Palermo gate, [the procession] is made up of farmers, all on superb, saddled mules, adorned in the most beautiful ways. Each of them has a large candle with the usual ribbons, and two buccellati laid on it from above so that they rest on the farmer's hand. They proceed in pairs, but the last grouping is of three: two of them each carrying a little horse of wood or cardboard; the other, the one in the middle, a little cow, also of wood or cardboard. Great is the delight that the people take in the sight of them: but they take even greater delight in the so-called carrozza (carriage), a cart covered in laurel and covered with buccellati, at the top of which is a beautiful and auspicious handful of ears of corn [...]. It is pulled along the road by four pairs of oxen covered in flowers and ribbons, and farmers stand on it, who never tire of breaking the loaves one at a time and throwing the pieces up to the people on the balconies and windows and down to the crowd; and everyone eagerly tries to eat it, like blessed bread. (translation mine)

The book also quotes a popular Sicilian-language song, in which the villagers hail the cart, with its presents of bread:

'Scìu la carrozza, chi già Iu sapiti, Era càrrica assai di cucciddati, China di li burgisi tutti uniti, Jittannu pani pi li strati strati The carriage comes out, and you already know it It was all full of buccellati Full of the burgisi all united (Who were going) throwing bread in the streets. (A "burgisi" is "one who rents the lands of others; a rich or well-off peasant.")

It is not said that any of these loaves had a fig filling, and I would assume they did not. Figs do appear in association with cucciddati in an 1892 article on Palermo in Natura ed Arte: it mentions "a’ buccellati di uva passa e fichi" (Italian), also known as "cucciddati di passuli e ficu" (Sicilian)—that is, "cucciddati with raisins and figs." They are listed as an example of festive bread or folk sweets ("pane [...] festivo"; "dolci e delle ghiottornie popolari"), as opposed to everyday bread ("pane quotidiano"). There is no mention, however, of the cucciddati being thrown during festivals.

I suspect that these words ("buccellato" and "cucciddatu") came to refer to a fig-filled pastry, as well as a plain ring of bread, through this process: the words first meant "a ring of bread"; for this reason, they came to be associated with any ring-shaped pastry; a pastry (whether cake or cookie) which was shaped like a cucciddatu, but with an additional filling of dried fruit, was referred to as a type of cucciddatu ("cucciddati di passuli e ficu"); and, eventually, this phrase was shortened to just "cucciddati."

Today, cucciddati may retain this ring shape, but they may also be cut into individual portions (as pictured above).

Recipe under the cut!

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Makes 24 cookies.

For the dough:

1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (100g) granulated sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baker's ammonia (optional)

Pinch table salt

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) vegetable shortening or non-dairy margarine, softened

1 Tbsp neutral oil

2 Tbsp cup soy or oat milk, or as needed

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:

1/2 cup dried figs

1/4 cup dried dates, pitted

1/4 cup raisins

Peel of 1 mandarin

1/4 cup almonds, toasted and chopped

1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

2 Tbsp zuccata (cucuzza squash jam); or substitute marmalade or apricot jam

2 Tbsp dark chocolate chips (optional)

1 Tbsp brandy

1 stick cassia cinnamon, toasted and ground

4 whole cloves, toasted and ground

Small chunk nutmeg, toasted and ground

Some recipes include a greater variety of nuts. You may also use an equal amount of almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and filberts or hazelnuts.

Use 1 Tbsp orange blossom water, or a few drops of fiori di sicilia, instead of brandy for a halal version.

For the icing:

1/2 cup vegetarian powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 tsp vanilla

2 tsp orange juice

To top:

Sprinkles, or candied lemon or orange peel.

Instructions

For the dough:

Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Add shortening or margarine and oil and mix to combine.

Add vanilla. Add milk slowly while mixing until everything comes together into a soft, non-sticky dough. The dough should not crack when pressed.

Cover and allow to rest while you prepare the filling.

For the filling:

Toast nuts in a large, dry skillet on medium heat until fragrant and a shade darker.

Toast spices in a dry skillet on medium-low until fragrant. Grind in a mortar and pestle, or with a spice mill. Sieve to remove large pieces.

Mix all filling ingredients in a food processor or meat grinder, and process to desired texture.

To shape:

Divide dough into four equal pieces and leave the ones you're not working with covered.

Roll out dough on a piece of wax or parchment paper into a rectangle of about 5" x 10" (13 x 25cm).

Take 1/4 of the filling and roll it against your work surface until you have a cylinder of the same length as the dough.

Place the filling along the dough lengthwise, then use the parchment paper to roll the dough tightly over the filling. Press the seam to seal, then place the log of filled dough seam-side-down.

Cut the log into 6 equal portions. Repeat with the remaining pieces of filling.

Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes in a 190 °C (375 °F) oven, until they are golden brown on the bottom and around the edges.

For the icing:

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine.

Dipped cooled cookies into the icing. Top with sprinkles or other toppings, as desired.

[chickenscanfly]

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[kael-writ]

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