DOUGH:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
4 tbsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
flour, as needed

Mix in order like a cake. If you don't mix the flour in all the dough at one time, you can make a softer dough with what is left and by adding different flavors to this part of the dough you can make different cookies, such as adding anise flavoring and making anise cookies.

FILLING:

2 lbs. figs, dried
1 lb. raisins
almonds and other nuts as desired
2 cups sugar
orange rind
cinnamon
black pepper
1 cup brandy
1 pint wine

To the above, I added dates, the whole orange, and instead of water about a pint of wine and a cup of brandy. In the past, I tried to bring to a boil so that the sugar would dissolve and had trouble with the filling scorching so from now on will just mix well and use as is. If you want to dissolve the sugar it can be done separately with the liquid used.

We roll the dough and cut into strips about 3-inches wide, fill these strips with the filling and make into filled tubes. We then cut the tubes about 2-inches long and bake at 325°F until a golden brown. When finished baking, we decorate with a powdered sugar mix or milk and powdered sugar and then sift decorations on while still damp.