Christmas Stollen

What will this recipe make?

This is our Christmas favourite and we love baking this together - and eating it :-) If you freeze the second one, you have one for Christmas and one for New Year.

Whose recipe is this?

Glyn

Ingredients

Fruit & nut mix:
50g currants
50g raisins
50g blanched, chopped almonds
50g pistachios, chopped
25g rind of orange, lime and/or lemon
1 tbsp rum
1 tsp vanilla essence

Dough:
25g fresh yeast
200g butter
100ml milk
50g caster sugar
575g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs

Filling:
200g marzipan
75g icing sugar
75g pistachios, finely chopped
rind and juice of 1 lime

Topping:
75g butter, melted
60g icing sugar

Method

Mix all ingredients for the fruit & nut mix in a bowl. Cover and set aside.
Melt the butter and add the milk. When the liquid is lukewarm, dissolve the yeast in the liquid.
Mix with the dry dough ingredients and eggs until you have a soft, non-stick dough.
Place in a big bowl, cover with a beeswax wrap (or cling film) and leave in a warm place for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, knead the dough adding the fruit & nuts. Cover again and leave to stand for 20 minutes while you mix together the ingredients for the filling. Form into two long sausage shapes.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
Knock back the dough again and divide in two equal portions. Roll each out to an oval shape.
Place marzipan in the centre, fold one side of the dough over the marzipan, and then fold the other side on top.
Repeat for the other stollen.
Bake on a baking sheet for 30 minutes.

Brush immediately with melted butter, then dust with icing sugar.
Repeat until both are used up.

If you want to freeze the stollen, leave out the melted butter and icing sugar till you defrost it. Defrost for 5 hours, then refresh in a warm oven and brush with butter and icing sugar.