a simple yarn

… it’s not just for Christmas anymore.

When living in the US, the highlight of the Christmas season was invariably being the recipient of a lovely stollen baked by an equally lovely German friend. And so with fond memories, a few loaves of stollen were added to our Christmas festivities this year.

Since we gave most of them away during the holidays, I’ve still had a bit of yearning for something almondy. So, why wait until next Christmas to satisfy that desire?

While the recipe sounds complicated, it’s easily done in steps, most of which are waiting for the dough to rise.

Stollen
3/4 cup chopped candied citron (6 oz)
1/2 cup light raisins
1/2 cup light rum
4-1/2 cups flour
3 pkgs active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tbl almond paste
2 tsp salt
2 tsp grated lemon peel
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup sliced almonds
melted butter
powdered sugar

Marzipan (optional)
1 block marzipan
1/2 cup powdered sugar

For each loaf, use 1/2 of marzipan. Roll in powdered sugar until smooth—not runny. Soak citron and raisins in rum overnight. In large bowl combine 1 cup flour and yeast. Add warm milk; beat smooth. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

In small bowl, cream 1/2 cup butter, sugar, egg, almond paste, salt, lemon peel, vanilla and nutmeg. Beat into flour mixture. Stir in fruit and almonds. By hand, stir enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Turn out on lightly floured surface, knead 5-8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Shape into ball. Put in greased bowl turning once to grease dough’s surface. Cover. Let rise in warm place 1-1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk. Punch down. Divide in half. Cover, let rest 10 minutes. Roll each half to 7”x10” oval.

If desired, place marzipan onto half of each oval. Fold long side to within 1/2” of opposite side and seal edge.
Place on greased baking sheets. Cover, let rise about 1 hour or until doubled. Bake in 350-375ºF/180-190ºC oven 20-25 minutes. Brush warm stolen with melted butter. When cool, dust liberally with powdered sugar.

I confess that I was less than pleased and left feeling a little ‘flat’ with the dough’s temper tantrum and unwillingness to rise. Ah well, it still tastes quite good, even while being a little shorter in stature. In looking at the photo, I also wonder about the glob of marzipan that sits in the middle. Hmm…think that next time I shall roll it out quite thinly and put it into the dough ‘swiss-roll’ style. Might make a nicer presentation I think.

But satisfied that there is an almond-something in the house, just have to heat the kettle for a nice cup of tea.