Wonderfully juicy and incredibly aromatic – we love Stollen! The pastry sprinkled with powdered sugar is THE Christmas classic par excellence and is in high season during Advent. Whether for breakfast or afternoon tea – a piece of Christmas stollen is always good, right? From quark stollen to nut and almond stollen to healthy onesLow carb stollen– there are now perhaps hundreds of different Stollen recipes that are always a pleasure. The sweet temptations have been lurking in supermarkets and bakeries for weeks. But how about making your own Christmas cookies this year? And no, forming studs is not rocket science. Because with the right tips and a little preparation, you are guaranteed to succeed in the classic without any problems! So what are you waiting for? Read on and find out here how you can conjure up the perfect Christmas stollen for Christmas.
The best Christmas stollen recipe for the ultimate Christmas treat
Stollen is a baked product with a long tradition and history. The classic Dresden Stollen is even a protected name and only the pastries from Dresden itself and the Dresden area can be called that. What many people don't know is that the Christmas stollen with its powdered sugar decoration symbolizes the Christ child wrapped in white cloths. Before you learn how best to shape a Stollen, you will of course need a suitable recipe. In order to save you some time and nerves, we have done some clever research for you and will show you the best Christmas stollen recipe with guaranteed success. We tried it ourselves, so you can trust us.
Depending on your mood, you can knead all kinds of dried fruits and nuts into the stollen dough itself. Whether orange peel, lemon peel, raisins or even dates and various freeze-dried berries - pretty much anything is allowed. This is how you can get yoursPut together your favorite mixtureand vary the ingredients listed in the Christmas Stollen recipe to your heart's content.
Marzipan Stollen Ingredients:
- 500 grams wheat flour (type 405)
- 20 grams of fresh yeast
- 130 ml milk
- 100 grams of sugar
- 100 grams of butter or clarified butter
- 130 grams of raisins
- 120 grams of orange peel or lemon peel
- 80 grams of almond sticks
- 40 ml Rum
- 400 grams of marzipan raw material
- 1 pack of vanilla sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, mace and cardamom
To spread:
- 100 Gramm Butter
- 100 grams of powdered sugar
Preparation
To form the perfect Stollen, preparation is key. And here are the best tips that all hobby bakers should know.
- So that the dried fruits become soft and aromatic, you have to put them in beforehand. To do this, soak the raisins, lemon peel and orange peel in rum overnight. Stir the mixture gently from time to time to ensure that the liquid is well absorbed. This step ensures that the dried fruit does not absorb the moisture from the stollen during baking. For a non-alcoholic version, it's best to swap the rum for apple juice.
- To knead the dough better, take the eggs, butter and milk out of the refrigerator about 1-2 hours before baking.
Prepare the dough
This step requires some attention. The stollen dough is actually very delicate and if it rises and kneads for too long, it becomes too dry.
- Warm the milk slightly, add the fresh yeast and dissolve while stirring.
- Sift the flour into a large bowl and mix with salt and spices.
- Add milk, sugar, vanilla sugar and the soft butter.
- Knead the yeast dough for a few minutes until it becomes nice and smooth. The easiest way to do this is to use a food processor or hand mixer.
- Add the almond sticks and soaked dried fruits and knead briefly.
- Form the dough into a large ball and place in a large bowl.
- Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours.
Forming stollen without a baking pan: detailed instructions
Has the dough about doubled in volume? Great! Now you can shape your Stollen! The traditional shape is also part of the classic Christmas cookies. But you don't have a suitable stud shape? No worries! Because we will explain to you how you can shape the Stollen without a mold.
- First, place the dough on a floured work surface and roll it out into a large, thick square.
- Briefly knead the raw marzipan mixture with your hands and shape it into a roll. This should be slightly shorter than the stud.
- To form the stollen, overlap the long side towards the middle and fold the short sides towards the middle.
- Use the rolling pin to make a depression lengthwise in the middle of the square.
- Place the raw marzipan mixture in the dent.
- Place the wider half of the dough over the other half so that it is not completely covered and press it in well with your hands.
- Place the formed stollen in the aluminum foil mold or place it around it.
- Cover and let rise again in a warm place for 20-30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or 160 degrees fan and bake the stollen for 45-50 minutes. Since every oven is different, check every now and then to make sure it doesn't get too brown.
- Turn off the oven and let the stollen stand for another 10 minutes.
- Melt the butter and spread it over the still hot stollen.
- Then sprinkle with powdered sugar and let cool completely.
- Wrap tightly in aluminum foil and your homemade stollen is ready!
Form the Stollen: Make your own baking pan out of aluminum foil
To ensure that the stollen doesn't spread flat when baking and keeps its nice shape, you can help yourself with a homemade baking pan. To make your own stollen shape, all you need is some aluminum foil. And it's that easy to do.
- Place two long pieces of aluminum foil on top of each other and fold them lengthwise into a solid strip about 4-5 centimeters wide.
- For a better hold, you can lightly cut the ends that overlap with scissors and fold them over once.
Baking the perfect Stollen: Helpful tips
As you can see, it's not that difficult to form a stollen. But to ensure that the Christmas cookies are juicy and tasty, you should plan enough preparation time and follow a few important steps.
- Let the Stollen soak through well –The longer the pastry sits, the better it tastes. To ensure that the flavors of the fruit develop optimally, it is best to bake the Christmas stollen a few weeks before Christmas. Professional bakeries let their stollen mature between 4 and 10 weeks! But who can wait at home for so long and resist the temptation? Nevertheless, you should be patient and let the stollen sit for at least 1 week. Pretty mean, we know that. But you will be rewarded with an unforgettable taste.
- Store in a cool place –The Stollen likes it cool! To intensify the taste even more, it is best to store the pastries in a cool, dark place at a temperature between 3 and 10 degrees. The basement, for example, is perfect for this. Attention – the Stollen has no place in the fridge! To protect the stollen from drying out, it is best to wrap it in either a linen cloth or aluminum foil.
- Always cut the stollen in the middle –After you've put so much effort into shaping the stollen, you obviously want it to stay juicy. And here's a small but nice trick to extend the shelf life of your Christmas cookies. Always cut the stollen in half and then push the halves together. This step ensures that the Christmas stollen stays fresh for a longer period of time and does not dry out.
- Use room temperature ingredients –This is perhaps the most important step that unfortunately many people underestimate. So that the dough can be kneaded well and you can later form the stollen, you should take the butter, eggs and milk out of the refrigerator at least 2 hours before baking.
- Prevent burnt raisins when baking stollen –Burnt raisins in Stollen are a common problem and can ruin our enjoyment due to their bitter taste. So instead of removing them after baking, press them into the dough with a blunt spoon handle and close the holes again.
Forming Stollen: How about a Stollen wreath recipe?
You don't think you can form the Stollen without a baking pan, but you still want to prepare the Christmas cookies yourself? Then you would be in good hands with our Stollen Wreath recipe. It tastes like a classic Christmas stollen, but comes in the shape of a wreath. All you need is a wreath cake baking pan. And this is how it's done:
Ingredients:
- 500 grams of wheat flour
- 200 ml lukewarm milk
- 1 pack of dry yeast
- 200 butter, room temperature
- 2 Owner
- 120 grams of sugar
- 80 grams of raisins
- 50 grams each of orange peel and lemon peel
- 130 grams chopped almonds or almond sticks
- 1 pack of vanilla sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 pack of baking powder
- A pinch of cardamom, nutmeg and salt
To spread:
- 100 grams of powdered sugar
- 100 Gramm Butter
Preparation:
- Soak raisins, orange peel and lemon peel in rum the day before.
- For the pre-dough, add the yeast to the warm milk and stir in 100 grams of wheat flour. Let rest for 15-20 minutes.
- Add the remaining flour, butter, sugar, eggs and baking powder to the pre-dough and mix with the dough hook of the hand mixer for 6-8 minutes.
- Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
- Add the raisins, orange peel, lemon peel, almond sticks and spices and mix well.
- Lightly grease a wreath baking pan and pour in the dough. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and bake for about 50-55 minutes. If necessary, cover with aluminum foil in the last 10-15 minutes of baking time.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes and carefully remove from the mold.
- Brush the still warm stollen with butter and then sprinkle with powdered sugar.
- Pack airtight and let it steep. And your simple Stollen wreath is ready!
