On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 6 Cucidati cookies!!! CUCIDATI Italian Fig Cookies Most of you know I am Italian. For as far back as I can remember my family has always made Cucidati cookies. Here is our recipe: The first step is to grind the figs. I used a meat grinder and set in up on my kitchen counter. I place a sheet of wax paper under it to catch the grindings. I placed it all in a bowl. I gathered these supplies: 1 pkg figs 1 cup of raisins 1 orange cut into sections. Leave rind on. I took small handfuls and placed them in the top of the grinder and turned the handle to push them through an grind them. Once I had all of the ground I gathered these supplies: 1 tsp All-Spice 1 tsp Cinnamon 4 Tablespoons of honey 1/2 a cup of hot water I mixed them with the fig mixture in a bowl. I covered the bowl. I put it in the refrigerator overnight! Cookie Dough First I grabbed a bowl and mixed these 3 ingredients together: 6 cups of Flour 1 1/2 tablespoons of Baking powder 1/2 teaspoon of salt In a separate bowl I whisked... 5 eggs Then in my Kitchen Aid Mixer I creamed the butter and sugar with these measurements: 1 1/4 cup sugar 2.5 sticks of butter Once I creamed the butter sugar I slowly added the eggs to the mixer. I added: 1 tsp of Vanilla 1 tsp of Anise Then I folded the flour mixture into the wet mixture slowly until smooth. Rolling out the cookies. I took all that dough and divided it, kneaded it and made into large softball shapes. I dusted my granite with flour. I pulled apart enough doug to make a long snake that I rolled out about 12" long Next, I took the palm of my hand and flattened it out to about 1/4" thickness. Then I took a spoon and placed fig in the center, all along this long strip. I pulled the dough up on either side and sealed the seam by pinching it together. I cut the long strip into 2 1/2" sections. I cut diagonally. I flipped each cookie over and cut three (Father-Son-Holy Spirit) decorative slits 1/2 "in size. I positioned them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. BAKING Preheat oven to 350 bake on bottom rack for 10-15 minutes Move to top rack for additional 5 minutes. Check them by checking the bottom of the cookie (each oven is different). Let cool completely FROST In my mixer I poured in a 1/2 bag of powdered sugar 1 tsp of Anise 1 tsp of lemon juice and slowly added milk to get it to frosting consistency I added red and green food color and sprinkles to my cookies. (My favorite part!)