This is a recipe from our childhood: a three-layer icebox cookie, chocolate, vanilla, and cherry, chilled in a log and sliced.
Ann made this recipe with an elementary school friend, Shannon Donselaar. This was our favourite treat.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2½ cups flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup walnuts, finely chopped
- ⅓ cup maraschino cherries, finely chopped
- 28 g (1 square) semi-sweet chocolate, melted, or 2 tbsp cocoa
- red food colouring
Method
Cream the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together thoroughly in a mixer. Stir in the flour and salt and mix well.
Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Stir the melted chocolate (or cocoa) into one. Stir the cherries and a few drops of red food colouring into the second. Stir the walnuts into the third.
Line an empty wax paper box with plastic wrap, or make a box about 30 cm long and 5 cm square. Press the chocolate dough evenly into the box. Top with the vanilla dough, then the cherry dough. Without a box, shape each portion into a 30 × 5 cm strip and stack the 3 strips into a 5 cm high log.
Wrap well in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.
Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Cut the log into 6 mm (¼ in) slices and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake until set, 7–10 minutes.
Cool before storing in an airtight container.