Claudine's Version Easiest Stollen

by Claudine Bratcher
(Fort Worth, TX USA)

Here's the story behind my stollen recipe. When I was a young US Army wife stationed in Germany in the mid to late 60s, I got my first taste of real German food and stollen. I was instantly hooked. I wanted to learn how to make it.

The stollen I ate was of course classic and made with yeast. I was not at all familiar with baking with yeast. My Mom never did, so I didn't learn when I was young. We lived off base at the time, and my sweet landlady tried to teach me to make her classic stollen.

Try as I may, it always was a failure. Many years later, I found a recipe from the King Arthur Flour blog that was made without yeast and with a few of my additions and changes, bingo, that did it!

The recipe I learned in Germany was made with Quark, yeast and marzipan in the middle. This recipe doesn't use yeast or Quark, and I like the Almond Paste Filling in the middle better than marzipan, but that's to my preference.

The stollen I made with this recipe must have been good because my family and my ladies (I was a cosmetologist for over 45 years) loved it. In fact, my ladies loved it so well, I was always asked if I'd make them an extra loaf, please. My husband always devoured a whole loaf himself; it was his and nobody better touch it!

To make a long story short, here is my recipe. I hope you like it as much as we do. I never got to take a photo of the finished product because it was always "whisked away and out the door" as soon as it was finished.

CLAUDINE'S VERSION EASIEST STOLLEN

DOUGH:
• 2 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt -- *see Claudine's Notes
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter -- (8 Tablespoons)
• 1 cup whole milk Ricotta cheese
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons butter flavoring
• 1 cup dried fruit blend -- *see Claudine's Notes
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds -- coarsely chopped

ALMOND PASTE FILLING:
• 1 (7 oz) tube almond paste -- (I used Odense brand)
• 3 Tablespoons butter -- semi-softened

TOPPING:
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter -- melted *see Claudine's Notes
• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar -- sifted *see Claudine's Notes

*Claudine's Notes:
• You can use Marzipan in place of the Almond Paste Filling if that's what you like.
• For the dried fruit blend, I used dried cranberries, chopped dates, chopped dried apricots and golden raisins.
• Reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon if using salted butter.
• For my Topping, I use more butter and confectioner's sugar to brush and sprinkle on my Stollen that's the way we like it, do it your way to your own liking.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper (this is better).

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut the cold butter into small chunks, then blend it into the flour mixture to form uneven crumbs.

In a separate bowl, mix together the Ricotta cheese, egg, vanilla, lemon extract and butter flavoring.

Toss the fruit and almonds with the flour mixture until evenly distributed. Then combine the wet and dry ingredients, mixing until most of the flour is moistened.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead it two or three times, until it holds together.

Divide dough in half. Roll each piece of dough into an 8 x 7-inch oval about 1/2 inch thick.

Make the ALMOND PASTE FILLING:

In a bowl, take the almond paste and break it up and then add the semi-softened butter, mixing the two together with your hands, then divide it up into 2 pieces and make long rolls.

This will be added to the center of the dough before folding the Stollen.

Put the almond paste roll slightly off center on each piece of the dough, fold over leaving the edge of the top half about 1/2 inch short of the edge of the bottom half.

Use the edge of your hand to press the dough to seal about 1 inch back of the open edge, this will make the traditional stollen shape.

It's also the familiar Parker House roll shape, if you've ever made them.

Place the shaped stollen on the prepared baking sheet. Bake the stollen until they're very lightly browned around the edges, about 40 minutes.

A cake tester inserted into the center should come out clean. Remove the stollen from the oven, and transfer to a rack.

Brush on the Topping:

Brush each stollen with 2 to 3 Tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle heavily with the confectioner's sugar.

Allow stollen to cool, then brush with butter again and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar again.

Wrap each stollen in plastic wrap and over wrap with aluminum foil until ready to serve.

Wrapped stollen will keep well for 2 weeks or so at room temperature,

Yield: Two 1 pound Stollen loaves.