- 1¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup (about 4 ounces) dried figs, cut into ½-inch pieces
- ¾ cup (about 3½ ounces) pine nuts, not toasted
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Sift the flour, salt, and cinnamon into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until the color lightens and the mixture looks smooth, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing until a smooth dough forms. Stir in the figs.
- Using a heaping tablespoon (about 3 level tablespoons each) of dough for each cookie, roll the dough between the palms of your hands into smooth balls. Use the palm of your hand to flatten each cookie into a 3-inch disk and place them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. (These cookies do not spread much.) Sprinkle the pine nuts thickly over the top of the cookies, pressing them gently into the dough; use about 40 pine nuts for each cookie.
- Bake until the edges of the cookies brown lightly and the pine nuts are lightly toasted, about 20 minutes. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer them to a wire cake rack to cool completely. The cookies will become crisp as they cool.