Food is love.  Make food and gift it at Christmas – it’s a gift of love.  

This blog is about making stollen, a lovely brioche type dough with fruit, nuts and marzipan.  It comes from Saxony in Germany and has brothers, sisters and cousins in many European food traditions.  Nobody has time to waste at Christmas, so I’ve worked on my recipe so that it has fewer separate process steps.  This recipe has more yeast to help the rich heavy dough rise.  

Stollen likes to age but the Davinator has proven that it can be eaten on the same day.  Thanks to Felicity Cloake of the Guardian who did a LOT of stollen research that I used in developing the recipe below. 

This recipe makes four 500 gram (one pound) loaves) that are a perfect size for gifting. To make a single large loaf, divide in half.  

Marzipan is one of those foods that divides people.  Marzipan is completely optional in this recipe.  And I’ve included two ways to roll it into the dough.  

Recipe

Ingredients

200g dried fruit; I use a mix of sultanas, cranberries and cherries. 
80 ml cooking brandy or dark rum 
320 ml semi-skim or whole milk
25g dried active yeast
300g unsalted butter, 50g to glaze later
850g plain flour, plus a bit extra
100g caster sugar
 12g salt
1 tsp ground nutmeg or other spice of your choice – but not cinnamon
4 egg yolks
50g mixed peel
50g flaked almonds
300g marzipan
Icing sugar (confectioners sugar) to glaze

Instructions

1.  Put the dried fruit to soak in the brandy.  Any dried fruit works but the individual pieces should be no larger than a sultana (raisin to Americans). Put a piece of plastic wrap over the top. 
2. Warm the milk to room temperature.  If you’re a mom, no hotter than a baby’s bottle.  You want the milk warm so that it doesn’t shock the yeast, but not so hot that it kills the yeast.  Add the yeast and one tablespoon of flour to the milk and stir well.  Cover with a shower cap or plastic wrap. 
3. Melt the butter.  Cover with a shower cap. 
4. Leave all three  bowls of ingredients for about 30 minutes.  Go wrap some presents or hang some ornaments on your Christmas tree. 
5. Combine flour, caster sugar, salt and spices in a large bowl.  I use nutmeg and I know that works.  You can experiment with other spices but avoid cinnamon.  Cinnamon is a yeast assassin.    Hence, the cinnamon roll was born (because the cinnamon is ON the dough not IN the dough).  
6. Add the milk and yeast mixture.  It should be foamy and smell yeasty now.   Stir it in.  Now add the butter and the egg yolks.   You will have a shaggy dough but it will come together. 
7. Prep a large bowl, oil lightly.  I use coconut based oil spray.  
8. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Set a timer and knead for 10 minutes.  If you don’t use a timer, you will be tempted to cheat.  This activity is also known as the ‘stollen workout’. 
9. Put the kneaded dough into the oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a shower cap.  Leave to rise in a warm draft free place for 45 minutes.  The yeast to dough ratio is high so it should rise relatively quickly,  It won’t double in size but should be puffy. 
10. Drain the dried fruit.  Drink the leftover alcohol (if desired) but don’t put it in the dough.  Strong spirit is another yeast assassin.  
11. Put your dough out on a lightly floured surface.  Pat it into a big rectangle.  Spread your flaked almonds and peel on the dough.  Now spread the marinated fruit on top.  Roll it up and knead in the fruit, nuts and peel.   This is kneading to incorporate ingredients not to develop gluten so stop when they feel reasonably mixed in. I use candied ginger as well (Davinator favourite).  
12. Put the dough back in the bowl and let it rise for another 30 to 45 minutes.  
13. Get your marzipan ready.  You need four chunks of 75 grams.  Knead the marzipan (like its play dough or clay) until soft and pliable.  You can either have a roll of marzipan in the centre of your dough (traditional) or you can have a thin layer that is a sort of a spiral in the centre (less traditional but seems more attractive to people who have reservations about marzipan).  First method is to roll each chunk into a log about 8 to 10 inches long, say an inch in diameter.  Second method is to roll your  marzipan into a rectangle about 8 by 8 inches. 
14. Your dough should be puffy again.  Separate into four equal parts for your four loaves – each one will weigh 500 to 600 grams.  Back to the lightly floured surface.  Roll out each portion of dough  into a rectangle.  If using traditional marzipan, place the log at the end nearest to you and roll the dough up into a long fat cylinder.  Sort of giant cigar shape.  If using the flat marzipan, place on the rectangle and roll up the dough. 
15. Place the loaves on baking sheets covered with parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap. Let the loaves rise for 30 minutes to an hour and preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan). 
16. Bake for 35 minutes,  the loaves with be golden brown on top.  I try and use the bottom of the oven because it seems the stollen likes a gentle hear. 
17. Take the loaves out.  Brush with melted butter and dust with icing sugar.  Repeat this step at least 3 times but if you forget how many, do it a couple more times.  No one ever said no to butter and sugar at Christmas.  I have a fine mesh ‘sugar shaker’ and this is it’s highest and best use.  
18. Wrap your stollen in parchment paper, then foil and leave to rest for a day or so.  Keeps beautiful in the refrigerator for at least week.   I’ve put mine in a cool dark cupboard (essentially had to hide it from the Davinator) and it was lovely a month later. I forgot about it.  But it seldom hangs around for that long. 

Enjoy with butter or cheese or just as it comes.   Also lovely with my Christmas chutney. 

Merry Christmas, all. 

I love feeding people and it rains baked goods on my friends, family and co-workers. And I love  Christmas. Put the two together and it’s time to give the gift of homemade food.   I look for things that are durable and keep for some time.  There’s so much food at Christmas that you don’t want to give food with a short shelf life.  Two of my favourites are Christmas cranberry chutney (this blog post) and stollen, my next blog post. 

My children love cranberry sauce that comes from a can.  So much so that the Davinator made a special dish for the canned stuff that shows off the perfect rings.  But most adults find it too sweet.  I make a cranberry chutney that goes well with turkey, chicken, ham and I’ve even spotted it on a cold beef sandwich.    

Preparation of the chutney is fairly simple.  If you’re going to eat it yourself, it’s easy to let it cool, put it in a storage container and keep it in the fridge.  It keeps well for a week or more.  But if you’re going to ‘gift’ it, you will need to sterilise the jars and put the chutney in jars when it is still hot.  Your chutney should keep for six to eight months although I’ve never had it last longer than a few weeks.  However, it also means that it doesn’t need to be refrigerated and thus good for gifting.  

Chutney recipes are usually flexible; the cranberries are essential (its in the name)and they give the chutney it’s beautiful colour. But I’ve used mango instead of pears & apples and I usually look around the kitchen for any spare fruit that might suit.

If you’re an experienced preserver of food, skip this section.  But if not, I highly recommend this BBC Good Food video  They sterilise the jars in the oven and boil the lids and rims.  I use a jam funnel to help fill the jars (way better than the jug they recommend in the video).  I sterilise the funnel, some tongs and a couple of big spoons at the same time as I’m filling the jars. 

My secret weapon is a pair of heatproof gloves.  These are really helpful for handling the tongs, the jars, etc.    These aren’t life changing but really have their moments.  Mine are a sort of knit and I try hard to keep them away from the boiling water because they soak it up like a sponge.  

Recipe and instructions

Ingredients

2  large onions, chopped

150 grams  minced ginger (save your time, use the jarred stuff from Waitrose)

360 mls wine or cider vinegar

200 grams of brown sugar 

Juice and grated peel from 2 large oranges

4 garlic cloves either chopped fine or pushed through a press

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (omit if you don’t want some zing)

4 large tart apples, chopped into say 1/2 pieces (no need for precision but too big and it’s hard to put on a sandwich, too small and they dissolve in cooking)

4 pears, chopped in the same manner as the apples

1 kilo of cranberries

A small cinnamon stick for each jar. 

Instructions

1. Put all ingredients from the onions through to the red pepper flakes in a big pot (not aluminium) and bring to simmer.
2. Add the apples, simmer for five minutes.  Add the pears and cook for another five minutes. 
3. Add the cranberries, bring to a boil and then back it down to a slow simmer.  Cooking time will vary depending on what kind of pot you use.  I would estimate 30 minutes and then start checking on consistency.   The Davinator likes his chutney of a spreadable consistency but sticky enough to hang onto the sandwich.  Or cheese.   Use your imagination, he puts chutney on it.  
4. Start getting your jars and lids ready.   To prevent bacteria (and thereby have wasted your time) the chutney needs to go in the jars while the jars AND the chutney are both hot.  If you’re comfortable with this process, go for it.  If not, go watch this video! 
5. I like using the jam funnel to fill the jars, but make sure it fits in the jars. Great tip from BBC Good Food – get more job ready than you need.  I filled 6 x 400 ml jars.  I often do several different sizes.   
6. Fill the jars and carefully put a cinnamon stick in the hot chutney.  Then put the lids on.   Use your imagination to decorate the jars.  Pinterest is a great place to get ideas; go there and search ‘jam jar decoration’.  If you haven’t used Pinterest, I’m not trying to ruin your life.  Some people have too much time…….
7. This should keep for about six months but refrigerate as soon as opened and use in a week.  

Enjoy your Christmas preparations.  It is the most wonderful time of the year.