INTRODUCTION
This is not a stolen bread but a bread name Stollen.. It is a German Christmas cake bread type of sweet bake and usually served during Christmas..
As per Wikipedia:
“Stollen is a fruit cake containing dried fruit and often marzipan and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar. The cake is usually made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts and spices. Stollen is a traditional German cake, usually eaten during the Christmas season, when it is called Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen. Stollen is a bread-like fruit cake made with yeast, water and flour, and usually with zest added to the dough. Candied orange peel and candied citrus peel (Zitronat), raisins and almonds, and different spices such as cardamom and cinnamon are added. Other ingredients, such as milk, sugar, butter, salt, rum, eggs, vanilla, other dried fruits and nuts and marzipan may also be added to the dough. Except for the fruit added, the dough is quite low in sugar. The finished cake is sprinkled with icing sugar.” (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stollen)
I did not intend to have any more Christmas bakes this year but I broke my promise again… While cleaning my kitchen cabinet, I still have some mixed fruits left. As all will know, these mixed fruits are usually used for Christmas bakes, after Christmas, it is unlikely that it will be used for other bakes… I told myself that I must think of a way to get rid of this..
When I issued my Italian Panettone post, one reader was asking me if I have a recipe of stollen. I told her I don’t and I will include in my next year’s Christmas recipes lists. However, since I want to get rid of the mix fruits, I have decided to take a bold move and baked it this morning.
I have searched high and low for the recipes.. In fact, there are many recipes and most are using yeast leavened method. But when i read the 4th recipe, it immediately caught my attention.. It is yeast free and therefore, it should belong to a quick bread category. It is leavened by baking powder. Further digesting the recipes found that the recipe called for the use of ricotta cheese which I knew that it will definitely yields a moist quick bread. The reviews confirmed my understanding and it score a 4.5 stars out of a 5 stars rating. One reader reviewed:
“I have been baking this wonderful recipe since I first found it in 2009. I thought it was so good, I mailed a piece of the stollen along with the recipe to a family member, and since then, just about every one in my family uses this recipe. My family is German, and we always looked forward to our mother baking stollen during the holidays. Her recipe uses yeast and seemed too difficult for me. This recipe is easy and always delicious! It tastes fine as written, or you can vary the amount of candied fruit or nuts (chopped pecans instead of almonds) I like to eat mine with a little margarine spread on it…..yummy!” (Read more: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/simple-stollen#ixzz3MF1LDtCl)
Since this is a quick bread, preparation is extremely fast and easy.. When I baked but somehow I found that my stollen was slightly flat, I opened my oven and intended to make it slightly rounder! LOL…. Oh, that created 2 parallel cracks on the top of the stollen and become rather unsightly. Do not follow me doing this wrong move.. Since my stollen is not beautiful, I thought to shelf the idea of sharing the recipe. I cut two pieces and ate it as my breakfast (I don’t usually eat any of my bakes before photo taking. Ha-ha)…As the house is full of this nice aroma and the after taste linger in my mouth, I took the courage to post to Facebook and share with members..
For purpose of this illustration, I did not put in any alcohol, instead, I soaked my dried fruits in pineapple juice.. As I do not have any silvered almond at home, I have omitted it as well. I have changed rather substantially from the original recipe because of the cups conversion. If you want, you can refer to the original recipes measured using cups.
WHAT IS REQUIRED
Recipe Inspired/Adapted from: Simple Stollen Recipe | Taste of Home
Servings: Prepare one medium size stollen
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300 grams of plain flour
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200 grams of cream cheese (original recipe used ricotta cheese)
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200 grams of mixed fruits (soaked either in rum, brandy or fruit juice)
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100 grams of sugar
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100 grams of butter
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35 grams of silvered almonds (not in picture – I did not used)
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1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
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1.5 teaspoons of baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon of grated lemon peel (i have omitted)
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1/4 teaspoon of salt
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1 egg and 1 yolk
STEPS OF PREPARATION
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Pre-heat the oven to 170 degree Celsius and line a baking tray with a piece of baking paper.
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Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beat until well combined. Add the soaked mixed fruits and silvered almonds. Give it a quick stir until well mixed.
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Sift in the plain flour, baking powder and salt. Use a spatula or flat bladed knife to mix until it form a rough dough. Do not over mix as it will yield a chewy stollen and slight lumpy batter is acceptable. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead about 5 times. If it is too sticky, pat your hand with more flour. Roll dough into about 8 inches x 10 inches and fold one side to the other side leaving about 1 inch from the edge. Bake in the pre-heat oven of 170 degree Celsius for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown or a skewer inserted to the thickest part comes out clean. The timing of baking is for your reference, it will depend on how thick is the dough of stollen. Dust sparingly with icing sugar on top of the bread.
CONCLUSION
Pardon me for my ugly stollen but rest be assured that this quick and easy recipe that yields a moist and fragrant stollen. For me, It is definitely a keeper. For more Christmas recipes, you can refer to this compilation: Christmas 2014 Special Compilation (2014 圣诞节特别汇编）
Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.
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GUAI SHU SHU 