Cream together the butter, brown sugar, salt, vanilla, lemon zest and egg. Stir the baking soda into the flour and add to the wet ingredients in 3 stages, scraping the bowl for every addition. This dough will look a little dry and crumbly. (It's OK, when you roll it out it comes together.) Roll the dough into two 12" x 9" rectangles between sheets of parchment, about ¼" thick. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm. Get this dough thin; if it's too thick, the pinwheels will be hard to roll.
In a medium-size pot, stir together the dried fruit, sugar, salt, water and lemon zest. Cook over medium heat until thickened. If it is not breaking down, feel free to blend it with an immersion blender. Remove from heat and stir in the walnuts and almond extract. Chill in the fridge for 10 min., then pull it out and allow it to come to room temp. It'll get really thick and sticky.
Divide the fruit in half and spread evenly over both rectangles. Roll each rectangle into a log and chill for 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 350°F.
Roll the logs into the turbinado sugar and slice into ½" cookies.
Bake for 13 mins. on a parchment covered sheet pan, rotating the tray halfway through. These cookies don't get a lot of color, they're done when they just start to turn golden brown on the corners. Don't overbake — the texture is ideal if they're still chewy in the middle.
