Christmas Stollen – a pastry that must not be missing from your holiday table.
Christmas Stollen is an essential part of Advent, especially in Germany, where it originated. It is a type of baked Christmas cake, filled with nuts and dried fruit and topped with a layer of sugar. Stollen has the shape of a loaf, which is supposed to resemble a little baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The first mention of Christmas Stollen dates back to 1329 when it was given as a Christmas gift to Henry I, the bishop of Naumburg on the Saale River. Around the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, Stollen was sold as Christbrote uff Weihnachten (Christmas bread) at the oldest Christmas market in Germany – the Striezelmarkt. Since 1560, bakers have delivered one or two stollens, weighing about 18 kilograms and measuring 1.5 meters long, to the Saxon king every Christmas.
There are many variations of Christmas Stollen, each region having its own. The most famous of them is undoubtedly the Dresdner Stollen, which, according to historical sources, was first baked in Dresden. Every year, on the Saturday before the second Sunday of Advent, the Dresden Stollen Festival takes place, during which a festive procession passes through Dresden’s Altstadt on the Schlossplatz square. At this square, a four-ton Stollen is ceremoniously unveiled, which is placed on a horse-drawn carriage. After the parade, the Stollen is ceremoniously cut and distributed among the visitors of the Striezelmarkt.
This Christmas delicacy has also become popular in our country, and in many households, it has replaced the traditional Christmas cake. Unlike the Christmas cake, Stollen is full of delicious ingredients, it is sweet, dense, smells of butter, and melts in your mouth. When baked, it fills your entire home with its aroma, and if properly prepared and stored, it can last for several months and you can serve it to carolers even on Three Kings’ Day. It is said that the older the Stollen, the better it is.
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Preparing for baking Christmas stollen
You should bake Christmas stollen already 3 weeks before Christmas so that its flavor develops sufficiently. Preparing stollen is easy and even beginners can handle it.
Preparing the sourdough
Before starting with the dough for Christmas stollen, prepare the sourdough.
Put flour into a bowl, make a hollow in it, crumble in yeast, pour in warm milk, add a little sugar and cover with a thin layer of flour. Place the bowl in a warm place. Once the sourdough has swollen, it’s ready.
Soaking in rum
Soak dried and candied fruit, raisins, almonds, nuts, citrus peel and other ingredients that you will add to stollen in rum and let them soak at room temperature for at least 12 hours to sufficiently absorb the rum.
The basis is a well-kneaded dough.
Once the sourdough is ready, add the ingredients for kneading the dough according to the recipe. The dough must be kneaded very thoroughly to be smooth and to ensure that all ingredients are well combined. A kitchen robot or mixer with kneading hooks will serve you well for this. Once the dough has the desired consistency, add all the remaining ingredients, including those soaked in rum. Knead the dough well again (it must be smooth, shiny, and not stick to the kneading container), shape it into a loaf, cover it with a clean cloth, and let it rest for 2 hours in a cooler place.
Classic leavened Christmas Stollen
Suroviny:
- 1 kg of all-purpose flour
- 500 g of butter
- 150 g of sugar + a little sugar for the yeast
- 5 tablespoons of lukewarm milk
- 80 g of yeast
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 120 ml of rum
- 600g raisins
- 100g almonds
- 70g orange peel (preferably from organic orange)
- 70g lemon peel (preferably from organic lemon)
- parchment paper
- aluminum foil
Process:
- Soak the raisins, almonds, and citrus peel in rum.
- Prepare the sourdough (following the instructions at the beginning of the article).
- Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the center.
- Pour the sourdough into the well.
- Add the butter, sugar, and salt.
- Mix everything together and gradually add milk until a smooth, non-sticky dough is formed.
- Mix in the ingredients that were soaked in rum, cover the dough, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, knead the dough briefly and either divide it into several parts (to make smaller stollens) or leave it whole.
- Roll out the dough into a thick rectangular shape, brush it with melted butter, and fold it in half lengthwise, with the top part slightly thinner and not reaching the edge of the lower part of the stollen.
- Transfer the stollen to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let it rise in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake for 40-50 minutes, until the stollen is golden brown. Immediately after baking, brush the stollen with melted butter.
- Let it cool slightly and allow the butter to soak in. Repeat the brushing process until all the butter is used up.
- Finally, sprinkle a layer of powdered sugar mixed with vanilla sugar over the stollen until it no longer absorbs butter and a dry layer is formed on the surface. Then let the stollen cool completely, wrap it tightly in aluminum foil, and let it rest in a cool place for 3 weeks.
Quark Stollen
Ingredients:
- 500 g of all-purpose flour
- 200 g of butter
- 250 g of cottage cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1 baking powder
- 100 ml of rum
- 130 g almonds
- 250 g raisins
- 100 g candied fruit or citrus peel
- pinch of salt
- baking paper
Preparation:
- Scald the almonds with hot water and let them sit for a few minutes. The skin will soften and it will be easy to remove it. Remove the skins from the almonds and let them dry.
- When the almonds are dry, chop or roughly grind them, and soak them along with the raisins in rum for 12 hours.
- Mix the ingredients for the dough, add the ingredients that were soaked in rum and create a sticky dough (the dough will stick to your hands, which is normal for this type of dough).
- Preheat the oven to 160-180°C and place the stollen on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.
- Immediately after baking, brush the stollen with melted butter.
- Let it cool slightly and allow the butter to soak in. Repeat the brushing process until all the butter is used up. Finally, sprinkle a layer of powdered sugar mixed with vanilla sugar over the stollen until it no longer absorbs butter and a dry layer is formed on the surface. Then let the stollen cool completely, wrap it tightly in aluminum foil, and let it rest in a cool place for 3 weeks.
Dresdner Stollen
Suroviny:
- 1 kg all-purpose flour
- 250 ml lukewarm milk
- 150 g powdered sugar
- 500 g butter
- 200 g melted butter for brushing
- 250 g powdered sugar for dusting
- 2 cubes of yeast
- 4 cl rum
- 600 g raisins
- 200 g dried currants or cranberries
- Peel from 2 lemons (preferably organic)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of cardamom
- 100g of ground almonds
- 100g of candied lemon peel
- 100g of candied orange peel
- You can also add cinnamon to taste
- 5 tablespoons of vanilla sugar
- Baking paper
Preparation:
- Wash the currants (or cranberries) and raisins and soak them in rum for 12 hours.
- Prepare the starter (according to the recipe at the beginning of the article).
- Sift the flour into a bowl, make a well in the center and pour in the risen starter.
- Mix and add the remaining ingredients, kneading thoroughly. Let rest for 30 minutes in a warm place.
- Shape the dough into a loaf, press a rolling pin into the center of the dough, then roll one half out from the center to the side and fold it over the unrolled half.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and place the loaf on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the loaf is golden brown.
- Immediately after baking, brush the loaf with melted butter.
- Let the loaf cool and let the butter soak in. Repeat the brushing process until all the butter is used up. Finally, sprinkle a layer of powdered sugar mixed with vanilla on top, until it no longer soaks into the butter and creates a dry layer on the surface.
Viennese Christmas Stollen
Ingredients:
- 600 g all-purpose flour
- 250 ml milk
- 300 g soft butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 40 g yeast
- 50 g powdered sugar
- 50 g glucose syrup
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
- 2 cl rum
- ½ lemon (preferably organic)
- a pinch of salt
- powdered sugar
- 300 g raisins
- 100 g marzipan (homemade or store-bought)
- 150 g lemon peel
- 40 g almonds
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- crumble made of powdered sugar and vegetable fat
- baking paper
Instructions:
- Let the sourdough rise (according to the recipe at the beginning of the article).
- Mix powdered and vanilla sugar, egg yolks, glucose, rum, lemon zest, and cardamom and beat over steam until frothy.
- Gradually add the flour and butter to the mixture and knead the dough well.
- Peel, toast, and chop the almonds.
- Mix in the raisins, almonds, candied fruit, ginger, and marzipan and mix well into the dough.
- Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C.
- Fold the dough over itself or shape it into a loaf so that its corners are folded over each other to look like a wrapped Baby Jesus.
- Place the loaf on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 50 minutes, until golden brown.
- Brush the finished loaf with melted butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar or crumbs, let cool, and repeat the process.
Christmas stollen with marzipan
Ingredients:
- 380 g all-purpose flour
- 130 g sugar
- 200 g quark (curd cheese)
- 150 g softened butter
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 vanilla sugar
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 100 ml rum
- 1 teaspoon grated orange peel (preferably organic)
- 100g chopped lemon peel (preferably organic)
- 130g dried currants
- 250g raisins
- 200g almonds
- 100g melted butter
- 60g powdered sugar
- 200g marzipan (homemade or store-bought)
- a few drops of vanilla extract
- baking paper
- aluminum foil
Instructions:
- Soak the raisins, almonds, currants, and lemon peel in rum for 12 hours.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, add the sugar, cardamom, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and grated orange zest.
- Mix the ingredients, create a well in the center, crack in the egg, add the cottage cheese and butter, cover with flour, and knead into a smooth dough.
- Add the lemon peel, almonds, currants, and raisins to the dough and knead well again.
- Shape the dough into a cylinder, make a groove along its length with a rolling pin, and insert a cylinder of marzipan into it.
- Press the dough together so that the marzipan is completely hidden inside.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, place the stollen on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake for about 50 minutes, until golden brown.
- Immediately after baking, brush the stollen with melted butter.
- Let the finished stollen cool and soak up the butter. Repeat the brushing process with butter until all the butter is used up. Finally, sprinkle a layer of powdered sugar mixed with vanilla over the top until it stops absorbing and forms a dry layer on the surface.