German Christmas Stollen

I’ve never made anything more reminiscent of my childhood than the German Stollen (maybe behind my grandma’s rolls 😊). The irony is that I’ve never eaten Stollen. So, how’s that possible… well actually, it wasn’t the Stollen itself but rather the ingredients that went into it… the store-bought, sugar-coated jelly Orange Slices and Fruit Loops… no, seriously!! Ok, so I didn’t ACTUALLY bake with Orange Slices and Fruit Loops, BUT the candied fruit tasted exactly like Orange Slices and the sweet syrup left over from the boiled fruit peelings tasted exactly like Fruit Loops. While this might sound a bit appalling to some of you, the taste was good. It all came from real food… not processed with chemicals from a package. I can’t think of a better recipe for me to make at Christmas time than the Stollen. Now the memories are flowing! Ah… to be a kid again this time of year!

What is Stollen anyway? Stollen at its most basic form is a dense yeast bread traditionally made with raisins, butter, almonds, candied orange and lemon peel, flour, water and yeast. There are many variations and other flavors added such as milk, sugar, salt, spices, and spirits.

History: Stollen is pronounced something like “shtaw-luh n” in German … need to have the “shhh” at the beginning for a native-like sound. 😊 Leave it to a language teacher to desire correct pronunciation. Here’s a quick rundown of its origins…

• was eaten during Medieval fasting first recorded in the 1474
• did not include milk or butter as the Catholic church did not allow such indulgent ingredients
• in 1491 after a request, the Pope granted the use of butter and richer ingredients
• by 1560,Stollen became the bread of the kings and was regarded as a royal treat

While there are many Stollen versions, since this past weekend was the Dresden, Germany Stollen festival, here’s a bit of info on the Dresden Stollen…

December 7, 2019 was this year’s date of the annual Stollenfest in Dresden, Germany. This festival that began in 1994 takes place every year on the day before the second Sunday of Advent and includes the presentation of a giant Stollen (see pic), parades, bakers and pastry makers, and a “Stollen girl”, if you will, to represent the bread’s official association. According the Dresdner Christstollen website, “Only in Dresden and the close surrounding areas of the Saxon capital, is it allowed to bake Dresdner Christstollen. In order to be a real Dresdner Christstollen the pastry has to be made by hand following the traditional recipes. It also has to satisfy the requirements set by the Schutzverband Dresdner Stollen e.V., a Stollen Association created to protect the special pastry to ensure its quality and excellence. You can identify an original Dresdner Christstollen by its golden stollen seal.” See a picture of the golden seal below.

Check out the festival’s website to learn more… https://www.dresdnerstollen.com/en/

My Stollen experience: The recipe I chose came from “The Daring Gourmet” entitled BEST German Christmas Stollen (Christstollen)(website linked). This Stollen version intrigued me because it appears to be authentic and created by someone who lived in Germany, and it includes all of the traditional ingredients with some indulgent ones :-). I like that the recipe includes homemade fruit peel and marzipan, thus encouraging me to do more than bake a loaf of bread.

Check out my YouTube video on making the German Christmas Stollen and see other videos on my channel on making the Candied Fruit Peels and homemade Marzipan.

The preparation before making the bread included drying out and fruit peels to be candied and making the marzipan. Let’s start with that first…

Homemade candied fruit peel…

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Homemade marzipan… Marzipan is a sweet white dough (looks like sugar cookie dough) made of almond flour, powdered sugar, almond extract, rose water, and water. While it’s a wonderful morsel of candy in itself, it’s used as an ingredient in recipes like cakes and pies as well as covered in chocolate and eaten like a truffle. It is not baked, just mixed all together in a food processor. Here we go…

Now for the Stollen with the candied fruit and marzipan …

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A few changes: I followed the recipe by “The Daring Gourmet” except…

• I chose NOT to use egg whites for the marzipan because due to a suppressed immune system, I should not consume raw eggs. However, I learned that traditional marzipan does not include egg whites anyway, so I just used water… still amazing!!
• I used a vegetable peeler to eliminate the white pith more easily instead of using a knife. I only needed to boil the peel 2 times instead of 3 because I had less pith.
• In the bread, I did not have the spice, mace, so I just subbed with freshly grated nutmeg.

Final thoughts: Wow! Butter, sugar, fruit, candy… hmmmm… I’ll have another slice please! I was unfamiliar with Stollen and didn’t know anything about it when I discovered it for this bake. I had never tried homemade candied fruit or marzipan. Let’s just say… Stollen is now on the annual Christmas season bake list and marzipan is just a regular sweet. I could not believe how great the ingredients tasted by themselves and combined in a beautifully baked loaf.

It was fun making something completely new and out of my wheelhouse while discovering childhood connections. Even during the holidays when we tend to bake and cook traditional foods, we can find ourselves connecting to cultures around the world. Again, this is another dish that reiterates that food breaks cultural boundaries, centuries, and social classes. I think I’ll go have a slice of Stollen and feel like a queen.

Thanks for reading! Please like, comment, or consider following my weekly blog to learn something new and maybe be inspired to make something different. More to come on preview Friday!