Recipe Christmas stollen:

The night before or 1-2 days before you bake the German stollen, prepare the dried fruit. Rinse them thoroughly, dry them on paper towels and place them in a container with a lid. Pour cognac or rum over them, mix thoroughly, cover the container with a lid or film. Leave the dried fruits to infuse in a cool place (not in the refrigerator, at room temperature, but away from warm radiators and the stove). Stir the dried fruits from time to time so that they can completely absorb all the alcohol.

Knead the yeast dough for stollen. To do this, combine milk and butter in one container. In the microwave or on the stove, heat the mixture until the butter melts.

Add regular and vanilla sugar to the warm milk mixture.

Mix well with a whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved. Leave the mixture to cool until warm.

Add a whole egg (or you can take 2 yolks) and stir the mixture well again with a whisk.

Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the yeast to it.

Grind the yeast with flour until very fine crumbs are obtained. Make a hole in the resulting mass.

Advice from a culinary site Cook- s. ru: If you are not sure about the quality of the yeast, then it is better to check it for “germination”. To do this, separate 50 ml from the total amount of milk. Heat the milk to body temperature and dissolve the yeast in it. Add 1 tsp to the yeast mash. sugar and mix well. Leave the yeast solution for 15 minutes, if during this time a foam cap appears on the surface of the solution - the yeast is good and can be safely used, but if no foam has formed on top of the solution or it is very weak, then most likely the yeast is spoiled and knead for The dough is not worth it; it may not rise at all or rise very poorly.

Pour the milk-cream-yeast solution into the flour well.

Stirring little by little, knead and knead the dough. Thanks to a large amount of butter, the dough for Christmas stollen turns out to be very tender and pliable. If it turns out too sticky, add just a little flour. Place the resulting dough ball into a bowl, cover it with a clean kitchen towel and leave it warm (near a warm radiator or in the oven with the light on).

Let the dough rise and increase in volume 2-3 times, this will take 1 hour or more.

While the dough is rising, chop the almonds. If dried fruits have not absorbed all the alcohol, place them in a sieve.

Add nuts and dried fruits to the risen dough.

Mix them into the dough. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise again for 20-30 minutes.

Place the risen dough immediately onto a sheet of baking paper. Mash it with your hands into an oval cake about 1-2 cm thick.

Fold a third of the dough over the top, moving toward the opposite edge.

Carefully drag the sheet with stollen onto the baking sheet. Cover it with a towel on top and leave it to rise for 30-40 minutes, during which time it will grow significantly in size.

Bake Christmas German stollen in an oven preheated to 170 C for about 45 minutes.

While the cake is baking, melt 70 g of butter in the microwave. Remove the finished yeast stollen from the oven and, without allowing it to cool, generously brush with melted butter. And then sprinkle with a thick layer of powdered sugar.

In this form, let the German stollen cool completely.

Traditionally, Christmas stollen is usually left to stand for from 2 weeks to several months. Therefore, wrap the cooled cake in several layers of paper or foil, hide it in a container with a lid or in a regular tight bag and leave it to stand in a cool place. But, if suddenly there is no time for long-term standing, then let it sit for at least 2-3 days, during which time the dried fruits will begin to give off their aroma and taste to the crumb and this will only make the festive German stollen tastier.

German stollen (Stollen or Christstollen) is a traditional Christmas pastry filled with raisins and candied fruits or with marzipan, nuts, and poppy seeds. Sometimes they even make curd stollen.

The first written mention of stollen dates back to 1329. It is prepared from heavy yeast dough in compliance with

certain proportions (for 1 kg of wheat flour - 300 grams of butter and 600 grams of candied fruits), although, of course, every pastry chef and every German housewife has her own recipe for Christmas stollen. After baking, the finished, still hot Christmas cake is brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Properly prepared stollen can be stored in a cool place for up to two to three months.

About German traditions

In Germany, they are very sensitive to the preparation of stollen; there are several types of Christmas cupcakes, the recipes of which are strictly prescribed in a special manual for the production of butter pastries. This guide was developed by the German Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. Confectioners producing stollen for sale must strictly adhere to the established recipe. The most famous is the Dresden stollen; it is even a registered geographical trademark with a special seal. However, creative German confectioners come up with new stollen recipes and take part in the federal competition “Stollen Zacharias”, held annually. The winners are awarded a special prize – “Stollenoskar”. Currently, many pastry bakers are offering new versions of stollen dough with lower-calorie ingredients. They also experiment with fillings, using, for example, cranberries, dried apricots and various other ingredients.

How to bake stollen?

Ingredients:

• 1.3 kg of wheat flour;
• 130 g granulated sugar;
• 50 g fresh yeast;
• 200 g natural butter;
• 400 ml milk;
• vanilla sugar;
• lemon zest;
• salt.

For the filling you will need:

• 400-500 g dark small raisins;
• 100 g peeled and fried almond kernels;
• 200 g candied fruits (orange and lemon);
• 130 ml rum or cognac;
• a little butter for coating;
• powdered sugar for dusting.

Preparation:

Here is the traditional stollen recipe. In the evening, prepare chopped candied fruits and washed raisins, add rum and leave overnight. In the morning, prepare the dough: crumble fresh yeast into a large bowl, dilute with warm milk, add some sugar and gradually add half of the sifted flour. Cover the bowl with a towel and place in a warm place for 20-30 minutes. When the dough has risen, gradually stir in the rest of the flour and sugar. Add vanillin, lemon zest and add a little salt. Stir and add softened butter. Knead the dough thoroughly, cover the bowl with a towel and put it back in a warm place for about another hour. The dough should approximately double in volume - knead it, knead it and leave it warm again.

Add the filling

Place the raisins soaked in rum in a colander. After the dough has approximately doubled in size for the second time, roll out 2 round flat cakes approximately 2 cm thick. Place soaked raisins, chopped almonds and candied fruits on top of the dough. Fold up the edges of the cake and We will knead until the filling is distributed evenly throughout the dough. Using our hands, we form a rectangle out of the dough, tuck the edges along the long side towards the center, slightly moving one edge further from the middle (this shape of the stollen is due to the fact that it symbolizes the swaddled Christ child). Let's round the edges a little.

Baking a cupcake

Place the stollen on a greased baking sheet, cover with a napkin and leave to rise for about an hour. Bake in an oven heated to 180ºC for about 1.5 hours. Grease the hot stollen generously with butter and generously sprinkle with powder. Stollen is good served with fresh tea or coffee.

Stollen is a traditional German Christmas pastry with deep medieval roots and, in modern terms, a large fan club. It is a rich, fluffy, fragrant loaf that is baked 3-4 weeks before Christmas and then left to rest until it acquires its unique aroma. The appearance of stollen is not as elegant as, for example, traditional English muffins, but its shape has a sacred meaning - it personifies the swaddled newborn Christ.

Stollen is a heavy yeast dough and a lot of butter. The correct stollen also adds a lot of sugar, dried fruits and nuts soaked in rum or other alcohol, which makes the delicacy truly rich, festive and unforgettable. It is generally accepted that all the best, the most delicious, the most valuable should be mixed into it. And what a freshly baked, spiced Christmas stollen smells like!

In addition to the fact that such baked goods already contain a large number of tasty additives, after baking the stollen is left to mature, and during this time it changes: the taste becomes deeper, the aroma is brighter and more intense. And already before the holiday... even unwrapping a Christmas stollen, carefully wrapped in paper for storage, becomes a holiday...

There are many recipes for stollen. Follow the link - simple and fast. I baked a classic of the genre - butter stollen. According to the old recipe, it will require: for 10 parts (weight) of flour, 4-5 parts of butter, at least 7 parts of dried fruit, 1 part of which can be replaced with almonds or marzipan.

Cooking time: about 3 hours plus time for preparing the filling and maturing the finished stollen
Yield of finished product: 2 large stollen

Ingredients

For filling:

• raisins 200 grams
• dates 100 grams
• candied fruits 100 grams
• dried cherries or cranberries 100 grams
• mixture of any nuts 100 grams
• orange (juice and zest) 1 piece
• lemon (zest) 1 piece
• rum, cognac, brandy or any other aromatic alcohol 100 ml

for stollen:

• prepared filling
• wheat flour 500 grams
• butter 300 grams for dough plus 50 grams for greasing
• warm milk 250 ml
• almond flour 100 grams
• sugar 85 grams
• fresh yeast 50 grams
• spice mixture 1 teaspoon (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, anise, allspice to your taste)
• salt a pinch
• powdered sugar

Preparation

It is better to prepare the filling in advance: you can do this a couple of hours before preparing the Christmas stollen, but it will be better if you do it 12-16 hours in advance - so it will be perfectly infused. Any dried fruits and nuts that you like are suitable as a filling for the stollen : Use your favorite combinations or experiment. The main thing in this matter is that you like the mix on its own - the stollen will benefit from this and will definitely suit your taste!

To prepare the filling, mix washed and lightly dried raisins with cherries (cranberries).



Chop the nuts into large pieces and add to the raisins and cherries.



Cut the candied fruits into small pieces, as they have a very strong taste.



Remove the pits from the dates and chop them coarsely.



Mix candied fruits and dates with the filling.
Now grate the orange and lemon zest on a fine grater.



Squeeze the juice out of the orange - you get about 100 ml. Add alcohol to orange juice.



Pour the liquid into the prepared fruits and nuts, stir and let sit.



To prepare the dough, mix the yeast with a teaspoon of sugar.



Pour half the warm milk into the yeast and stir until the yeast dissolves.



Send the dough to a warm place until it becomes fluffy and begins to foam strongly.
While the dough is rising, pour the flour, remaining sugar, salt and spices into the bowl of a bread machine or food processor.



Add the second half of the milk and the dough.



Knead the dough for 10 minutes.



Then add the softened butter to the dough and knead until it comes together.



Leave the dough alone to rise for an hour and a half.
Transfer the finished soft and tender dough to a large bowl.



Now it's time to add almond flour.



Then add all the filling along with the liquid to the dough and mix it thoroughly.



The dough will be very soft, sticky, incredibly tender. Place it on a generously floured work surface.



Divide the dough into 2 parts, flatten each into a layer about 2 cm thick and make an oblong dent with the edge of your palm, retreating a third from the edge of the layer.



Fold the dough along this dent.



Place the dough pieces on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Leave them in a warm place for 35-45 minutes to rise.



Stollen should be baked in an oven preheated to 190 degrees for 60-70 minutes until golden brown.
Brush the finished hot stollen with melted butter.



Then sprinkle them generously with powdered sugar.



Let them cool, then wrap them well in parchment paper and then in foil to keep air out.
Stollen ripen at room temperature, and therefore the best place for storage is a kitchen cabinet or storage cupboard.

Dresden Christmas Stollen is an incredibly delicious, luxurious holiday cake with dried fruits, nuts and spices. This cupcake is a great homemade gift option, a great addition to a cup of coffee or tea, and, of course, a wonderful holiday treat.

Quite unprepossessing in appearance (for which it received the nickname “Dresden Monster”), stollen is incredibly seductive in cut and completely unforgettable in taste. Loaded with nut and fruit filling, flavorful and juicy, this cake captivates with its texture and taste from the first bite. Try it!

Prepare the ingredients according to the list.

The day before baking, prepare the filling. Peel the almonds. To do this, pour boiling water over the nuts and leave for a few minutes. Then drain the hot water and pour cold water over the nuts. After such a “contrast shower”, peeling the nuts will be very easy.

Place the peeled nuts in an oven preheated to 180 degrees and, stirring, fry until golden brown.

Chop the roasted nuts with a knife or grind in a blender in pulsation mode. Don't try to get a very fine grind, let some of the pieces remain coarse. This will give the taste of stollen additional charm.

Combine all filling ingredients: raisins, prepared almonds and candied fruits. I add chopped, and also, for variety, some dried cranberries and candied pineapple. You can use a mixture of candied fruits or just candied citrus fruits from lemon and orange peels - in any case it will turn out very tasty. Mix everything thoroughly and place the mixture in an airtight container or jar.

Pour in rum or cognac, seal the container tightly and let the mixture sit for at least a day.

On the day of baking, first take the butter out of the refrigerator - it should warm to room temperature. Sift the wheat flour.

Separate about 150 grams of flour and add half the sugar, yeast and a small pinch of salt.

Pour in warm milk and mix everything thoroughly.

Cover the container with cling film and a towel and place the mixture in a warm corner of the kitchen for 40-50 minutes.

Then add warm butter, the remaining half of the sugar and another 200-300 grams of flour. Mix the ingredients and knead into a smooth soft dough. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.

Place the dough in an oiled container, cover with a towel or cling film and let rest for another 35-50 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the juice of half a lemon (you can add zest), as well as ground cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla sugar or essence to the prepared filling.

Add the filling to the risen dough. There is more filling than dough - this is the hallmark of a good stollen. At first it may seem that the dough simply cannot accommodate such an amount of filling, but this is not so. Add the filling in small portions, gradually mixing it into the soft dough, and everything will work out.

Also, adding in small portions, knead the remaining third of the flour into the dough and form a ball of smooth soft dough.

Place the dough in a greased pan, cover with a towel or cling film and place in a warm corner of the kitchen for another 3.5–4 hours. During this time, lower the dough two or three times, kneading it for about 1 minute.

Line the bottom of a baking dish with 2 layers of foil. Also, unwind a piece of foil twice as long as the pan and fold it 3-4 times horizontally, forming a strip about 8-10 cm wide. This strip of foil will become a kind of cake pan.

Knead the dough for about 1 more minute. Then divide into 2 parts and form each of them into a ball. Place the first part of the dough in the bowl again, and form the second part into a stollen.

Roll out the dough into an oval shape about 1 cm thick. Then fold the dough almost in half, but slightly offset. So that the top half of the dough covers the bottom by about 2/3. Place the cake in the prepared pan.

Following the contours of the cake, place a strip of foil. Tighten the ends so that the foil holds the desired shape.

Let the cake sit for another 15 minutes, meanwhile preheat the oven to 220 degrees.

Place the cake in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes at 220 degrees. Then, when the cake is golden brown, reduce the temperature to 170 degrees and bake for another 30-35 minutes.

Check readiness by piercing the cake with a wooden skewer; if the skewer comes out clean, the stollen is ready.

Generously brush the surface of the hot cake with butter.

And then sprinkle with a thick layer of powdered sugar.

This cake can, of course, be served immediately, but it is also designed for long-term storage. Traditionally, stollen is baked 3-4 weeks before Christmas, as it becomes even tastier once it has steeped.

To store: Cool the cake completely, then wrap it in 2-3 layers of foil and cover with a kitchen towel. Place the cake in a wooden box or enamel pan and store in a cool, dry place. I store the cupcakes in the kitchen cabinet at about 20 degrees.

Dresden Christmas Stollen is ready! Bon appetit!

I caught the sun in the morning

Stollen is prepared under the same conditions and with the same mood as our Easter cakes. Ready-made stollen are wrapped in film and stored for two months or more, so they can be baked in advance. Powdered sugar and rum act as a preservative.
If you want to make stollen with marzipan, you need to mix 150 g. marzipan mass with 2 tbsp. l. favorite liqueur, roll into a “sausage” and roll it into the middle when forming a stollen. Or roll out the marzipan mass into a rectangle smaller than the dough, place it on top of the dough layer and form a stollen.


I baked three stollen (pictured) according to this recipe, but did not soak the raisins and cranberries in orange juice, as I did this time. The version with juice turned out to be a little more tender
On the picture:
on the left - stollen with marzipan mass, rolled into a layer;
in the center - stollen with a marzipan “sausage” wrapped in dough;
on the right is stollen without marzipan.

P.S. In my diary () you can see stollen recipes that I found on German sites

And now for some spiritual food

The origin story of the Christmas Stollen

The Dresden Christmas stollen (cake) is inextricably linked with the cultural history of the city of Dresden.

In the Middle Ages, Dresden stollen, as a pastry during Lent, was originally mentioned in 1474 in an invoice for the Christian hospital of St. Bartholomew. At that time there was no question of the exquisite taste of this pastry: medieval stollen consisted only of flour, yeast and water!
As a symbol of perfect renunciation during the pre-Christmas fast, the Catholic Church did not allow the use of either butter or milk.

Since the Saxons have always been famous as a people who love to eat, one day Elector (in our opinion, Prince) Ernst of Saxony and his brother Albrecht asked Pope Innocent VIII to lift the ban on the use of butter during Lent. The Holy Father granted this request by sending the so-called “Butterbrief Letter” to the Elector of Saxony in 1491. From that time on, bakers were allowed to use various additional ingredients when baking stollen.

Already in 1500, delicious stollen was sold to townspeople at Dresden's famous Christmas market, the Striezelmarkt.

Dresden stollen received its title of royal dish in 1560. According to tradition, at Christmas each Dresden baker gave one or two Christmas stollen to his prince.

I wish everyone a Merry New Year and Christmas!

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