Chocolate Cookie Covered Fruit Circles

I like fruitcake which makes me a bit of a minority. I also like cookies that include some of the fruitcake taste without having to plow through a chunk of fruitcake. This one is perfect as it is fruity and chocolate! Refrigerator cookies are great in that you can prepare them and leave them to cool down while you work on other types of cookies. When your refrigerator cookies are ready, you just slice and back and enjoy. These seem very Christmas-like and look pretty on the cookie plate.

Chocolate Cookie Covered Fruit Circles½ cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1 cup mixed candied fruit, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of freshly grated lemon zest
1 egg white, beaten


In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, almond, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir into butter mixture until well blended. Set aside 1/3 of dough and place in another mixing bowl. Gently melt the chocolate and mix the melted chocolate into 1/3 of dough. Stir candied fruit and lemon zest into remaining 2/3 dough and form into a 2" thick roll. Refrigerate about 2 hours.

Between two sheets of waxed paper, roll chocolate dough into an 1/8"-thick square. Brush lightly with beaten egg white. Place roll of white dough at one end of the chocolate dough and roll up so that the chocolate dough covers the white dough. The white dough is now the middle of the roll. Refrigerate the double roll about 2 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove dough from the refrigerator and slice into 1/4" slices with a sharp knife. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets and bake about 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool for a minute on the baking sheet and remove to wire racks to cool completely. .