Christmas Stollen with Marzipan
This is a German fruitcake that has become a classic Christmas bread.
It is a bread that is traditionally eaten during the Christmas season. It is also known as Weihnachtsstollen (after Christmas) or Christstollen (after Christ).
The bread has dried or candied fruit, nuts, and spices. We used candied fruitcake blend, but raisins and currants work well too. We also used grated lemon zest to the dough for a little citrus flavor.
This recipe makes three stollen so you can eat one, save one and give one away.
Stollen with Marzipan
Servings: 3 loaves
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 pound fruitcake fruit blend
- ⅓ cup rum
- 7 ounces marzipan
Dough
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- ¾ cup warm milk
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 egg – large
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter – softened
- 15 ounces all-purpose flour
- 2 ounces granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (orange zest is okay)
- ½ cup almonds chopped
Topping
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- confectioners sugar
Instructions
Prepare fruit for filling
- Using a medium bowl, combine the fruitcake fruit blend with the rum. Cover the bowl and set it aside at room temperature.
Prepare the dough
- Using a small bowl, combine the warm milk, yeast and one tablespoon of flour and set it aside.
- Using a mixer, combine the butter, flour, sugar, salt, cardamom and zest.
- Add the milk and yeast mixture to the mixing bowl and mix until combined.
- You can either knead the dough for a few minutes with the mixer (but don't over knead) or pull it out and knead it by hand for about 10 minutes. I like kneading by hand. You should finish with a smooth, soft dough.
- Using a medium bowl, put the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 60 to 90 minutes. It should be puffy.
Add the filling and prepare the loaves
- Divide the marzipan into three pieces. Roll each piece into a 7-inch length and flatten. Set these aside.
- Knead the fruit mixture and the chopped almonds into the dough. Knead until the filling is evenly distributed. You may have to drain the fruit mixture before using it if it has standing liquid.
- Divide the dough into three pieces. Roll each piece into an oval or rounded rectangle about 6-inches by 8-inches.
- Put a flattened log of marzipan down the center of each oval, along the long dimension.
- Fold the dough over the marzipan, so the top edge is a littlie short of the bottom edge. Press the top edge down firmly to seal it with the bottom.
- Put the loaves on a parchment-lined baking sheet (or use silicon baking mats.) Let the loaves rise for about an hour. They should be puffy.
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 °F while the loaves are rising. Set the backing rack in the top third of the oven.
Bake
- Bake the loaves for 30 to 35 minutes. They should be golden brown and the centers should be 190 °F.
- Remove the loaves to a rack and brush immediately with half of the melted butter. Then sprinkle a coating of confectioners sugar. Brush again with the remaining butter and sprinkle a second coating of sugar.
- Let cool and serve or wrap tightly with plastic wrap.
