And now its time for Santa to come. I hope you all have your presents ready and are in a cheerful mood.
For the last day I wanted to share a recipe with you that really IS Christmas, well at least in Germany.
It is: Stollen.
Stollen is so typically german, it couldn't get more german.
In my family my grandma used to make Stollen, but she got sick this year so she couldn't make them anymore. Which means, that now I have to make them and it really was my first time doing this. So I started research for a good recipe and I didn't wanted to bother my grandma for a recipe. I bought a christmas cookie recipe book which also contained Stollen recipes, and there where a few of them. I decided to make the one filled with marzipan.
I tried the recipe for the first time 2 weeks ago and actually a Stollen is made out of a yeast dough, but because there was too much butter in it it hasn't risen. But taste wise it was perfect and delicious.
So I looked at the recipe and made a few changes and it came out really good. The Stollen is fluffy and because of the marzipan not a bit dry, and the spices make it just perfect.
What you have to be aware of is, that to make one takes time.
For one Stollen you'll need:
4 1/4 cups(500g) Flour
1 Packet dry yeast
1 1/4 cup(300ml) Milk
3/8 cup(80g) Butter
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1 Tbsp. Vanilla Sugar
1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
1/8 Tsp. ground Cloves
1/8 Tsp. ground Cardamom
1/8 Tsp. ground Nutmeg
Zest of one Orange
Zest of 1/2 Lemon
1/2 cup (100g) Candied Lemon Peel
1/2 cup (100g) choppes Almonds
1 cup(125g) Rum-Raisins
7 ounces Marzipan
1 cup(110g) Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup(50g) Candied Orange Peel
What you also need:
1/3 cup(75g) Butter, melted for coating
2/3 cup(75g) Powdered sugar, for dusting
1. In a small pot, melt the butter and add the milk to the molten butter and let it heat until warm.
Sift the flour, yeast, spices and the sugars into a large bowl. Add the orange and lemon zest, candied lemon peel, almonds, rum-raisins and the two egg yolks.
Add the butter-milk mixture and knead with the dough hooks of an electric mixer until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough.
Dust your work space with flour and pour dough onto it. Knead for 2-3 minutes with your hands. Grease or flour the inside of you bowl, put the dough back inside, cover with a towel and bring the dough to a warm place and let it rise for an hour.
2. Meanwhile you can prepare your marzipan filling.
For the filling, knead the candied orange peel and the powdered sugar into the marzipan.
This will take a few minutes, but it will give you an arm workout, believe me.
Roll out the marzipan, about 30cm X 15cm/12inch X 6 inch. You don't have to be too precise I wasn't either, but you do have to make sure that the marzipan is smaller than the Stollen you will roll out later.
3. Preheat oven to 480°F/250°C.
After 1 hour, retrieve the dough and pour it onto your flour dusted work space. Knead out all of the air in the dough and then roll it out about 30cm X 20 cm/12 inch X 9 inch.
Lay the marzipan onto your Stollen and press down gently. Roll everything up. Make a dent in the middle and fold over( I know, it sounds complicated).
Mold the dough until it has the shape of an loaf of bread.
Set it on a parchment paper covered baking sheet a set in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
4.Turn down temperature of the oven to 340°F/170°C.
Bake the Stollen for at least 30 minutes. The actual recipe calls for 1 hour baking time, but in my oven at home it took me 35-40 minutes. So it's best if you keep an eye on it.
When the Stollen is done let it cool completely and the brush in generously with the molten butter and dust with a thick coat of powdered sugar.
Stollen tastes the best if you let it sit about 2 days, so that the flavor can really emerge, but this one tasted also good while still slightly warm.
Wrap the Stollen in aluminum foil to keep from drying out, while letting it sit.
You can really see the marzipan filling, which makes it moist and delicious and just yummy.
All mixed together gives it an incredible taste.
You know that you've done it right, when the Stollen is really light and fluffy.
Stollen changed over the years. My mom told me that my grandma used lard years ago to make it, which made it really heavy and ample. Nowadays it is made with less butter and that is just fine.
I hope you enjoyed my "12 Day of Cookies" journey, and I also hope you liked the recipes I showed you.
What would be really great, if you would leave me a comment, because I would really love some feedback on my recipes.
XOXO Owlicious ;)
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