How to Make An Easy Christmas German Stollen

German Stollen (Weihnachtsstollen) is a popular Christmas bakery item and one that remains a family tradition to this day. Traditionally, it’s a bread made with yeast, nuts and candied fruits. It’s coated with powdered sugar or icing sugar. This recipe tastes very much like the traditional recipe– except there is no yeast! Instead this recipe is made with ricotta cheese and baking powder…and it works!

German Stollen (Weihnachtsstollen) is a popular Christmas bakery item and one that remains a family tradition to this day. The history of the Dresden type Christmas Stollen goes back to the 15th century. The Stollen was designed to symbolize the Infant Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.

German Stollen is very much a part of my Christmas childhood memories.  I’ve never made my own Stollen, and it’s been my Recipe Bucket List for several Christmas’s past. In the meantime,  I have resorted to buying German Stollen’s from Trader Joe’s. They’re not bad, as long as you eat a slice with a cup of coffee.  A few days ago, I spotted King Arthur Flour’s recipe for their Easiest Stollen. Traditional Stollen is made with yeast; this version uses ricotta cheese and baking powder.

Let’s make stollen the easy way (no yeast)!

There are two ingredients that King Arthur recommends to make this recipe– Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor and Lemon Oil.  I fell in-love with the Buttery Sweet Dough flavor, about a year ago.  It smells like yellow cake batter, and it gives a special flavor to any of your baked goods.    The lemon oil is a great product, because it’s a natural product, made from the lemon rind (unlike lemon extract).  Is it required that you use these? No.  The lemon oil is a shortcut from having to zest lemons, and I think it packs a great punch of lemon citrus.  Of course, you need pure vanilla.

As you can see, I shop, often, online at KAF– I bought this European candied mix peel, last Christmas. It was destined to become Stollen.  It never happened, so I used half to make an Easter Ricotta Pie.  The other half was exactly enough to make this stollen recipe– and it was still good to go!  You can use any kind of dried fruit– cranberries, raisins… whatever you like.  If I didn’t have this fruit, I would have chosen golden raisins because they are very traditional.

Almonds are the traditional nut to add to Stollen. I didn’t have slivered almonds, but I always keep a bag of sliced almonds on hand.  These are already toasted, which really brings out the flavor.

For the dry ingredients, we need flour, salt, baking powder and salt…

For the wet ingredients, we need ricotta cheese, vanilla. Add lemon zest or use the optional lemon oil and Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor. Give it whisk and smell.  Wow!  The aroma smells so good with the vanilla, lemon and emulsion!

The dry ingredients are whisked together, and then the nuts and dried fruit is added. Now, we need COLD butter. My shortcut is to grate cold (or frozen) butter. It works great!

Time to make dough! With a stand-mixer, it takes a minute or two (or, you can do this by hand). Add the dry, then the wet ingredients. Don’t overwork it. You just want the flour mixture to be moist.

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

Cut the dough in half. In my case, I cut the dough into thirds. I was going to give two away, and keep one for “us”.

My own “twist” to this recipe was to add a very traditional ingredient– Marzipan.  I love it.  Skip it if you don’t like it…

These are baked at 325F for about 40 minutes. Because these are smaller (at 3 Stollen), I set my timer for 25 minutes. They are perfect and smell really great!  To me, they seemed more like a large cookie..but I carried on with the next few steps:

Remove the stollen from the oven, and transfer to a rack. Brush them each with 2 to 3 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle heavily with confectioners’ sugar.

Allow the stollen to cool, then brush with butter again, and sprinkle with sugar again. I know this appears to be a bit excessive, but trust me– it’s how the German’s roll (said with affection).

TASTING NOTES: This recipe gets the O-M-G rating from me!  The stollen reminds me of Biscotti, without the crunch of a second bake.  The outside texture is a little crunchy, which isn’t how must authentic stollens are.  However, the inside is moist and has just the right amount of density to it. The flavor… (rolls eyes).  I think the Buttery Sweet Dough flavor is something you have to experience.  The flavor tastes like vanilla, lemon and butter. The fruit is just the right amount.  The powdered sugar coating give just the right amount of balance.  So, if you’re not confident working with yeast, this is a recipe version that is delicious!

Since I was gifting the remaining stollen, I wrapped them in plastic wrap. The next day, the powdered sugar had become damp and absorbed. No problem! I just gave a generous bath of confectioner’s sugar, and it was good to go!

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Easy Christmas German Stollen (No Yeast)

German Stollen (Weihnachtsstollen) is a popular Christmas bakery item and one that remains a family tradition to this day. Traditionally, it’s a bread made with yeast, nuts and candied fruits. It’s coated with powdered sugar or icing sugar. This recipe tastes very much like the traditional recipe– except there is no yeast! Instead this recipe is made with ricotta cheese and baking powder…and it works!

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: German

Keyword: Easy German Stollen, Stollen

Servings: 36

Calories: 85kcal

Author: Debby – www.AFeastfortheEyes.net

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour recommended: King Arthur Flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup 8-tablespoons cold butter
• 1 cup ricotta cheese part-skim milk type
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons buttery sweet dough flavor optional but good
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon oil or 1/4 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia; I purchase on King Arthur Flour's website
• 1 cup dried fruit blend or 1/2 cup golden raisins plus 1/2 cup of your favorite dried fruits;chopped to 1/2-inch pieces if necessary
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds toasted and cooled

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line it with parchment.
• 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 cheese, egg, vanilla, and flavors.
• 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 it in half.
• Roll each piece of dough into an 8-inch x 7-inch oval about 1/2-inch thick.
• Fold each piece of dough roughly in half, leaving the edge of the top half about 1/2-inch short of the edge of the bottom half. Should you fold the long way, or the short way? The long way will give you a longer, narrower stollen, with shorter slices; folding the short way will give you a wider, fatter stollen, with longer slices.
• Use the edge of your hand to press the dough to seal about 1-inch in 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 till 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 them each with 2 to 3 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle heavily with confectioners’ sugar.
• Allow the stollen to cool, then brush with butter again, and sprinkle with sugar again. Wrap in plastic wrap till ready to serve. Plastic-wrapped stollen will keep well for 2 weeks or so at room temperature.
• Tips from our bakers:
• *A number of readers have asked for a substitute for ricotta cheese. You won’t get as smooth-looking a result using the following substitutions, but the stollen will still be very tasty. Reduce the butter to 2 ounces (1/4 cup). Work 3 ounces cream cheese and the butter into the flour as directed. Mix the egg and vanilla with a generous 1/3 cup milk (instead of with ricotta). Proceed as directed in the recipe.

Notes

Recipe source: Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour.com

Reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon if you use salted butter

If desired, add a strip of almond paste into the middle of the stollen dough, before baking.

Unlike standard stollen, this version doesn’t keep for weeks on end. However, it was fresh as fresh could be a week after we made it; and still good 2 weeks out. By the end of the third week, it was starting to get that dry, stollen-type texture you might be used to… so we’d say enjoying it within 2 to 2 1/2 weeks after baking would give you your optimal stollen experience.

If you prefer a substitute for ricotta cheese, you won’t get as smooth-looking a result using the following substitutions, but the stollen will still be very tasty. Reduce the butter to 2 ounces (1/4 cup). Work 3 ounces cream cheese and the butter into the flour as directed. Mix the egg and vanilla with a generous 1/3 cup milk (instead of with ricotta). Proceed as directed in the recipe.

Nutrition

Calories: 85kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 63mg | Potassium: 49mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 118IU | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @afeastfortheeyes or tag #afeastfortheeyesblog!

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