Stollen Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups raisins
• 3 tbsp rum (dark works best)
• 4 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened (3 sticks))
• 1/2 cup candied lemon peel
• 1/2 cup candied orange peel
• 1 1/3 cup almond meal
• 1 oz marzipan (see my recipe)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 lemon (peel)
• 1/2 tsp ground mace
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 oz Fresh yeast (or 3 Tbsp active dry yeast)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1. 1

   One day in advance, mix the raisins and the rum together and let the rum infuse the raisins overnight.

2. 2

   On the next day, heat up the milk until it's lukewarm. Mix the milk and the yeast with a fork until the yeast is dissolved in the milk. Add a little bit of sugar and 3 tbsp flour. Cover and let the mixture sit for 20 minutes.

3. 3

   Add flour, mace, fresh lemon peel, sugar, salt butter, almond meal, and marzipan, knead until a smooth dough forms. Now it's time to add the candied lemon peel, candied orange peel and the raisins to the dough.

4. 4

   Cover the dough and let it rise for 1 hour. Preheat your oven to 347°F. Knead the dough again. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, put the dough on it and form an oval-shaped loaf. You can make one big Stollen or two smaller ones. Use a rolling pin to flatten the middle of the loaf so that you have two bulges. Flatten one of the bulges and fold it over (See picture).

5. 5

   Take a piece of aluminum foil and fold it to form a 4-inch high stripe. Pin the ends together to form a circle which should be the size of your Stollen. Put it around your Stollen. Bake the Stollen for 45-60 minutes.

6. 6

   Take it out of the oven and brush the liquid butter over the Stollen. Sprinkle the sugar onto the Stollen and then 2/3 of the powdered sugar. Let it cool off. Sprinkle with remaining powdered sugar. The butter and sugar make it durable.

7. 7

   The Stollen can break easily, so be careful. Transfer it to a cake rack and leave it till the next day to make sure it's completely cooled down.

8. 8

   Wrap the Stollen in parchment paper and then put aluminum foil around, put it in a zipper back and store it in a cool place for 1-4 weeks. The flavors will infuse the Stollen and it gets better and better. Before you serve it, sprinkle another layer of powdered sugar on top.