---
title: "Grandmother Lucia's Christmas Cookies: Cuccidati and Brutti ma Buoni"
created: 2024-12-20 09:00
author: Amelia Fontaine
keywords: Christmas cookies, cuccidati, brutti ma buoni, Italian baking, Sicilian
description: Two Italian Christmas cookies from my grandmother's kitchen — fig-filled Sicilian cuccidati and craggy hazelnut brutti ma buoni — with the family story behind them.
---

# Grandmother Lucia's Christmas Cookies: Cuccidati and Brutti ma Buoni

My grandmother Lucia baked these cookies every December without a written recipe. She had made them so many times since her mother taught her in Catania in the 1950s that the quantities lived in her hands rather than in her head. The first time I watched carefully enough to write things down, she was eighty-one, and she regarded my notebook with amused scepticism. "You're going to measure everything?" she said in Italian, as if this were a charming eccentricity.

I was. These are the results.

## Cuccidati (Sicilian Fig Cookies)

*Cuccidati* — pronounced ku-chi-DAH-tee — are the Christmas cookie of Sicily: a buttery pastry encasing a dark, fragrant filling of dried figs, nuts, candied fruit, and spices. They are sometimes called *buccellati* in western Sicily, and the variations are endless. Every family has their version. This is Lucia's.

### The Filling (make first — it needs to rest)

- 400g dried figs, stems removed
- 100g raisins
- 80g blanched almonds, roughly chopped and toasted
- 50g walnuts, roughly chopped
- 50g candied orange peel, chopped
- 4 tbsp honey
- 50ml Marsala (or brandy or orange juice)
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp black pepper

Place the figs and raisins in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped but not puréed — you want texture. Combine with all other ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, ideally overnight, so the flavours meld. The filling can be made three days ahead.

### The Pastry

- 400g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 80g caster sugar
- 150g cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 large egg
- 60ml cold water (approximately)
- Zest of 1 lemon

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Beat the egg with the lemon zest and add to the bowl with most of the water. Bring together into a soft, non-sticky dough, adding more water if needed. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

### Assembly

Preheat oven to 180°C. Roll the pastry to about 3mm thickness. Cut into rectangles approximately 8cm × 12cm. Place a sausage of filling (about 1.5cm diameter, 8cm long) along the long edge. Roll up and pinch the seam closed. Bend into a horseshoe shape, or cut into 3cm pieces for straight cookies.

Place on baking paper-lined trays. Make three diagonal slashes across the top of each. Bake for 18–22 minutes until golden. Cool completely before glazing.

**Glaze**: Mix 150g icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make a thick glaze. Drizzle over cooled cookies. Top with coloured sugar strands or finely chopped pistachios if you like.

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## Brutti ma Buoni (Ugly but Good)

The name is exactly right. These hazelnut and meringue cookies look craggy, irregular, and entirely resistant to elegance. They are extraordinary: intensely nutty, chewy at the centre, crisp at the edge, flavoured with vanilla and a touch of spice.

- 300g blanched hazelnuts
- 200g caster sugar
- 3 egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt

Toast the hazelnuts at 180°C for 8 minutes until golden. Cool slightly, then pulse in a food processor until roughly chopped — you want some chunks, some powder.

Whisk the egg whites and salt to stiff peaks. Gradually add the sugar, whisking between each addition, until you have a stiff, glossy meringue. Fold in the hazelnuts, vanilla, and cinnamon.

Transfer the mixture to a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 5–8 minutes until the mixture dries slightly and pulls away from the sides. It will become quite stiff and less glossy. Remove from heat.

Drop spoonfuls (about the size of a tablespoon) onto baking paper-lined trays. They will be irregular — this is their character. Bake at 160°C for 25–30 minutes until firm and lightly golden. They firm further as they cool.

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## How to Gift-Pack Them

Line a tin with tissue paper. Place cuccidati in a single layer, then a layer of greaseproof paper, then brutti ma buoni on top. The cookies keep for 10–14 days in a cool place. They improve after two or three days as the flavours settle.

Lucia always sent them wrapped in newspaper (the most insulating material available in 1970s Catania) secured with kitchen string. I use better packaging now but the principle is the same: make more than you think you need, give most of them away, and eat the imperfect ones yourself.
