Stollen

Stollen Recipe

Stollens are a traditional German fruit bread often made during the holidays. With this stollen recipe, you'll get a more nut-flavored and less fruity bread. The recipe makes 3 stollens—1 to eat, 1 to freeze and 1 to give away. These stollens can be made ahead and frozen. When you are ready to serve a loaf, allow it to thaw to room temperature and then add the icing.

Yield: 3 loaves

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Ingredients

For the dough

1 pkg. cake yeast
½ cup warm water
3 Tbsp. sugar (divided)
3 egg yolks
1 tsp. salt
½ cup warm milk
3 to 4 cups flour
½ lb. butter, melted and cooled

For the filling

3 egg whites
¾ cup sugar
½ lb. ground nuts (we used pecans)
Evaporated milk, as needed

For the icing

Powdered sugar
Evaporated milk
Maraschino cherries

Directions

To make the dough

  1. Soak yeast in warm water and 1 tablespoon sugar.
  2. Mix together egg yolks, 2 remaining tablespoons sugar and salt. Add milk and yeast mixture.
  3. Alternate adding flour and melted butter into the egg mixture.
  4. Form dough into 3 balls. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

To make the filling

  1. Beat 3 egg whites until fluffy.
  2. Add sugar and nuts. Add evaporated milk to get to the spreading consistency you want.

To assemble each stollen

  1. Roll 1 ball of dough into a rectangle about 13 by 9 inches, between ⅛ inch and ¼ inch thick.
  2. Spread ⅓ of the filling on top of dough. Roll, jelly roll fashion, and seal ends into a ring. Make slits in top of stollen in several places.
  3. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes or until evenly brown (but not a dark brown).
  4. After stollen is cool, mix some powdered sugar with a little evaporated milk to make a thin icing that can be drizzled over the top of the stollen, but not so thin that it all runs off. Decorate with halved maraschino cherries.

Tip: You can freeze the stollen before icing it. When ready to serve, allow it to thaw to room temperature and then add icing.