DAY 4

CHRISTSTOLLEN

by Julia Kratz, Freudenberg Business Services

There's no Christmas season without Christstollen in Germany. The sweet loaves are a German classic and you can buy them in every supermarket already starting in late September. But of course, there's nothing better than a homemade Stollen! Julia Kratz prepares her signature Stollen loaves up to 4 weeks ahead so they have developed their full flavor potential by Christmas Eve. 

 

Ingredients:

  • 375g of raisins
  • 100ml of rum (or apple juice for kids)
  • 375g of wheat flour
  • 4 tsp of baking powder
  • 125g of sugar
  • 1 package of vanilla sugar
  • a pinch of ground cardamom
  • a pinch of ground nutmeg
  • 250g of curd
  • 1 egg & 1 egg yolk
  • 150g of softened butter
  • 50g candied lemon
  • 50g orange peel
  • 200g of ground almonds
  • 200g of marzipan
  • 100g of melted butter
  • powdered sugar

Instructions:

Prepare the raisins: 

Soak them overnight in rum or apple juice at room temperature. 

 

Mix the dough: 

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add sugar, vanilla sugar, cardamom, nutmeg, curd, the full egg, the egg yolk and softened butter. Knead for 5 min. until a smooth dough has formed. 

Chop candied lemon and orange peel: It needs to be very fine. Add the chopped candied lemon and orange peel, ground almonds and drained raisins to the dough. 
Knead until smooth. If it’s too sticky, add more flour. 

Roll out the dough into a rectangle of 30 x 20 cm (12 x 10 in). Knead the marzipan until it becomes smooth and form a smaller rectangle. Place the marzipan over the dough, leave the edges free. Roll the filled dough from the longer side and shape it into a Stollen (the middle should be a little higher than the sides). Push the raisins on the surface deeper into the dough. 

Put the stollen on triple-layered baking paper (to prevent burning) and bake at 150°C / 300°F (fan-assisted) for 50-60 minutes. 

 

Butter & sugar glaze: 

Take out the stollen from the oven, brush it with half of the melted butter, and dust it with powdered sugar. Repeat several times for a rich coating. Once cooled, wrap the stollen twice in parchment paper. Store it in a cool place (no fridge) for 3-4 weeks. The flavors deepen over time, perfectly for the festive season. 

Bake this Christstollen a few weeks before Christmas and let it rest to reach its full flavor potential. For mini Stollen confections, form small marzipan balls and cover them with dough. Bake at 150°C / 325°F (fan-assisted) for 12-15 minutes.

 

Download the recipe