A COOKIE BY ANY OTHER NAME

       At Christmastime, my mother kept the old Sicilian tradition of baking special cookies, and now my sisters Connie and her children continue it, as do the children of Connie's twin, my late beloved sister Mary. My favorite 'cookie' was, and still is, the Sicilian fig cookie.

       Not to be confused with the ‘Mericanu’ ‘fig newton‘, which is no more than a swipe of fig paste in a tasteless crust, my mother’s fig cookie was a delicate, tasty shell wrapped around a sweet mixture of ground figs, walnuts, dates, raisins, citron, and other delicacies. And it was all topped with a sugary frosting and colored sprinkles.

       Now, you know what I’m talking about, but what did you call them? There are as many names for this confection as there are dialects of the Sicilian language.  Many call them cuccidati (coo-chee-DAH-tee), which could be interpreted as ‘cooked dates’ or ‘date cookies’; some say nucedati (noo-che-DAH-tee), which might mean ‘nuts and dates’. I have heard them called uccidati (ooh-chee-DAH-tee), zuccidati (zoo-chee-DAH-tee), puccidati (pooh-chee-DAH-tee) and even purciddati (poor-chee-DDAH-tee), which sounds like ‘pig dates’!

       An on-line reference says they’re bruccedati (brew-che-DAH-tee), because some (my favorite kind) were made in a large ring shape, and ’bruccedati’ means ‘little bracelets’.

       But to me, they’re what my mother used to call them: purciddati. She always made a few of the big, ring-shaped ones and kept them aside for me, her ‘baby’. Then my late sister Mary, still spoiling the (70-year-old) baby brother, would make a few just for me. Now Connie, even though she's living in Illinois, is not too far away to spoil me!  I don’t know what purciddati really means, if anything. But to me, it means one thing: delicious! ~ Ange Coniglio

Rosa Coniglio’s Recipe: Sicilian Fig Cookies
 (Purciddati)
[as interpreted by the “Twins”, Mary Coniglio Denisco Sowa and Connie Coniglio Miller]
Makes 12 dozen cookies.
 

         Cut shortening and margarine into flour. Add sugar and other dry ingredients. Beat eggs with vanilla extract and buttermilk and to flour mixture.

          Mix by hand and shape: roll dough by hand into “snakes” about 16” long, 1 inch in diameter. With rolling pin, flatten snake to form strips about 3” wide and 1/8” thick. Place filling along center of strip. Fold one long edge of dough over filling, and roll once more to form a long, filled tube. Cut tube on a slant to make cookies about 11/2” long. Some can be cut about 8” long and the tube is curled in a circle to make a “bracelet".