Oh, I thought it was casa data=date house..Kind of a fig newton filling, except with dates, and a shortbread outside..
My friend's Sicilian grandma made them until she got too senile to make them.. Everyone else who's tried to make them..they just don't taste as good.
That could be a different recipe then.
But fig cookies, in the south of Italy, it's an art. It has different names for them. The classic ones are known as "cosiduci" or "cosi duci." These are the ones that are shaped into various figures, such as a palm tree, sheep, angel and various fruit shapes. Various cutting tools are used to shape them in the desired form. Also, as I remember them, they are made not by single family or individually, rather people gather in one house (usually women) and work at them for a few days. Then the party moves to another household, etc. You won't find them here in the good Old USA. Each of these cookies is a work of art.
Cuccidati, is a tubular-shaped fig cookie but w/o any of the decorations and intricacies of classical fig cookies. Very plain and easy to make. The other difference between the two I mentioned is the dough, or pasta frolla. It's much tender and delicate for the classical ones.
Then there is the manna-based Sicilian torrone. Again, you wont find it here. I guess it's too expensive.
Happy Tanksgiving to all!