Das seit herlich aus!

I don't think I have ever had stollen, but I think I would like it. I bought some candied fruit last year after Christmas. it was clearanced out for practically free and I bought more than I needed for the cookie recipe I made. I need to check when I get home and see if they are any good. I have no idea how long they stay, but I remember it had a long exp date on it.

Looks delicious, Annie! I love stollen, but not a fan of marzipan so I just buy it with the fruit and nuts. It's available from Germany seasonably where we live.

Ja, sieht lecker aus!

Growing up my mom never put marzipan in but she started adding it in some loaves, a few years back. I like it either way. Candied fruit and raisins, no nuts.

My stollen recipe doesn’t have marzipan, but I make some every few years. As you say, it’s really good but I find when the dough is close to ready when you’re kneading it, the dried fruit tends to just pop out of it as it comes to the surface of the dough :-)

Looks delicious!!!!!

That looks wonderful! I'm not a baker and haven't had stollen in years. My teen son works at our local bakery and brought home a sample of their stollen... it was divine. Not too sweet... and a variety of dried fruits, as you included in yours. My memory of stollen was all raisins but this had more variety.

That looks lovely, Annie! My Norwegian grandmother would make "julekage" at Christmas which is similar.

Thank you, everyone! I've made stollen before, but it had that candied "fruitcake mix" in it, and I just don't care for that. This one, though, was really good, and it was even better toasted, although the powdered sugar melted in the toaster and dripped down into the bottom tray which was, thankfully, removable for cleaning.

Peppi and FOAS, I have no idea what you just said, and my computer won't translate it into anything that makes sense. I'm assuming it's something nice. (grin)

Seagrass, I've only ever seen it here at Aldi (which would make sense, with that German connection/company). Now I'm going to have to look harder. I might need to make another one, without all the powdered sugar, just for toast.

nancync, I've never had marzipan either, although I've seen it shaped like little fruits.

Colleen, I just pushed the raisins back into the dough, and I got most of them back where they belonged!

OK, so I wonder if I add chocolate chips, if it isn't stollen anymore?

Annie

Annie, I commented that it looks heavenly, as did FOAS. Check your Aldi's for some, they are really good and come in three varieties: butter almond( my fav) cherry, and the marzipan. I am not a fan o marzipan, but Dad likes it. And don't forget the Spekulatius cookies, with or without almonds. MMMM.....

If you add chocolate chips, it would just be chocolate chip bread.

FOAS, my mom never made stollen but both my Oma's did. Dad said they made several long loaves and the kids would wheel it to the local bake shop for finishing in their ovens. Then they were covered with a cloth and allowed to sit until the first Advent. All the dried fruits kept it moist.

I've seen it at Aldi, but never bought any, now I'll have to try it. And that's why I asked about chocolate chips, I actually saw a chocolate chip bread at Meijer that they CALLED stollen, but it sure didn't look like it.

So, yours was never basted with booze of any type? A local bakery makes it and mixed half and half butter and rum to baste the bread, then adds the sugar crust, but I didn't think the rum was really traditional and I wanted the kids to be able to eat it!

Annie

I live close to a heavily Scandanavian community......and one with an excellent old time-y Scandanavian bakery :-) Their stollen/julekage is wonderful and very traditional. No marzipan!! Thank goodness, as I detest almond flavored anything (but I like almonds - go figure). I usually pick up a loaf every year as too much trouble to make one for myself. Toasted for breakfast with a cup of coffee. Or in the afternoon with tea. Yum!!

And their other Scandanavian baked goods are pretty amazing as well, especially at Christmas time! A moderately famous bakery - even have their own wikipedia entry :-)

Annie, which KAF Stollen recipe did you use??? There are at least 5-6 on their site!

Peppi - Funny you should mention it sitting until Advent because when discussing it the other day my mom mentioned that it should sit for a while before eating. That kind of surprised me. But she also said she soaks the raisins in rum which I also didn’t know. That might add to the moisture. Not that it’s particularly moist...

"Thank goodness, as I detest almond flavored anything (but I like almonds - go figure)."

Same with me, gardengal. IDK...maybe it's because almond flavoring can be much more intense than almonds themselves...?

Annie, I have had rum stollen. Don't worry about kids, I don't think they would like the taste and because it was sitting a bit and was baked the alcohol is gone. Some use rum extract also. And if you make another one, add the nuts. Like a fruitcake, this is a celebration loaf.

I made the one called "Our Easiest Stollen", because I didn't have marzipan, I didn't have almond paste, I didn't have dates, and I don't like the fruitcake mix kind of candied fruit. That one seemed to be the one that I could most easily adapt to the ingredients I had and that we like.

Hmm. So FOAS is familiar with stollen where the raisins are soaked in rum, and Peppi had one with rum, so maybe that IS traditional, like the brandied fruit cake. The bakery doesn't bake the rum IN the bread, they mix butter and rum and use it to baste the already baked bread, it makes kind of a glue for the powdered sugar, and they make a thick coat of it.

I do like almond flavoring, though, I just sniff the bottles of almond extract at Penzey's and I LOVE almond paste in those Italian neopolitan cookies. Almond paste isn't something that's readily available here, though, usually the cans of "Solo" brand are available around the holidays and occasionally I'll see a block of it in the refrigerated case with the rolls of cookies and stuff, but again, only at the holidays.

Annie