Lannie’s Legendary Holiday Stollen Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups rich milk, warmed slightly
- 1 T granulated baking yeast
- 1 lemon, finely grated zest
- 1½ c. raisins, soaked in:
- ¼ c brandy or lemon juice
- 2/3 c. sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp almond extract
- Unbleached flour (about 5 cups total)
- 2/3 c. candied peel, chopped
- 1 c. dried cranberries or cherries
- 1¼ c. whole almonds, chopped
- 6 Tbsp soft butter
- Marzipan: almonds, sugar, flavour – see recipe
Instructions
- Stir spirits or juice into the raisins; set aside.
- Pour milk into mixing bowl with the grated lemon rind.
- Sprinkle yeast onto (barely) warm milk and let it soften for ~ 15 minutes
- Add: sugar, salt, cardamom, and almond extract.
- Stir in 3 cups of flour and beat with a spoon for 2 minutes to develop gluten.
- Then add candied peel, cherries/berries, chopped nuts, and soaked raisins.
- Gradually add 1-2 cups additional flour, until it’s too stiff to stir; turn out onto a floured counter and knead gently to create a soft pliable dough ball. Keep your hands floury and add more flour – as much as you need to form the dough ball, but as little as possible so your bread will be tender.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover and let it rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours. Punch it down and let it rise again, maybe 30 minutes. (Longer is okay, just punch it down occasionally.)
- Meanwhile, make the marzipan, prep baking trays, and preheat oven to 350 F.
- When you are ready to bake, turn the risen dough out on your clean and lightly floury counter. Press it into a rectangle about 12×16 inches. Spread the dough with the soft butter. Fold and press the dough; roll it out and “fold-press” several more times to mostly incorporate the butter.
- Divide the dough into 2-3 (or 4) pieces, depending on how many and how big you want the stollen to be. Shape each piece into a dough ball and make each into a flat oval about 5cm (1.5”) thick. With the side of your hand, indent the dough slightly off center lengthwise. Spread a thick layer of marzipan down the center of the bigger half, leaving the outer edge plain. At the indent, fold the other half over, covering the marzipan. Press gently to perfect the half-oval shape of the cake.
- Place cakes onto buttered baking sheets, with space to rise and spread. Bake at 350 F for 40-60 minutes, time depending on the size of your cakes. When done, they should be golden all over and slightly firm. (Reduce oven temp and cover with foil if they are getting dark and need more baking time.) Remove and cool on racks.
Baking & Preparation Tips
- Enjoy as-is, or brush the stollen with melted butter & sprinkle w/ icing sugar.
- For presentation or gifting, place a green fir tree tip onto the sugared cake and decorate with dried fruit berries. Wrap stollen in clear plastic bag.
- Flavour develops with age; you can mail these cakes. They also freeze well.
- We like the sliced stollen for breakfast or teatime, lightly toasted with a smear of butter or cream cheese.
Marzipan Recipe
Use a food processor to powder 2/3 cup sugar. Add 1 c whole almonds and grind fine. Add 1tsp. brandy and/or almond extract, plus 1-2 tsp water. Process until smooth.
Candied Citrus Peel Recipe
Home made is incomparably better than store-bought!
Be sure to use organically grown fruits. Collect peels from oranges and lemons (can freeze) until you have enough to make 4 cups of sliced strips about 1 cm (3/8”) wide. To remove bitterness, place sliced peel in a pot and cover with cold water; bring to a boil for 3 minutes; drain and repeat (cold water to boiling) two more times. In a heavy-bottomed pot, boil 1 cup water and 2 cups sugar to make a syrup. Add the peels and cook over low heat, shaking the pot as the is syrup absorbed. When the peel is dry and translucent, spread it on a cookie rack to dry. (This is a tasty treat, dip some in chocolate!) For baking, use a sharp knife to cut the peel into small cubes.
Note: It’s fine to use a machine to make stollen dough, just be sure the soft raisins stay intact; knead them in towards the end of mixing.