Germany Dessert – Stollen

As we were making these dishes in December, it was only right that Stollen was on the list! We found a recipe from The Daring Gourmet (who is originally from Germany!) which looked perfect to try.

Tip to the wise — if you want this for a specific day, make sure you plan ahead as the dried fruit should ideally be soaked overnight in rum, and the finished stollen benefits from resting for a week or two wrapped in foil to allow the flavours to develop!

The dough itself was an enriched yeasted dough — butter, sugar, eggs, milk and flour combined with the rum-soaked dried fruit, almonds and warming spices like cardamom and cinnamon.

Once proved, the dough was rolled out and a log of marzipan placed in the centre before the whole thing was folded over into the classic stollen shape.

After baking, the stollen was immediately brushed with melted butter and dusted generously with icing sugar — the snowy white finish that makes it so festive and beautiful.

This was a real showstopper and tasted wonderful — fruity, spiced, marzipan-sweet and deeply festive. One we will absolutely be making again every December!

Let us know if you give this a go — we’d love to see your stollen!