Christmas Stollen

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Stollen is a traditional German Christmas bread. Filled with dried fruit, nuts, and spices, as well as a log of marzipan, it’s unbelievably festive and super tasty. A perfect alternative to Christmas cake or mince pies…which I don’t like (I know!)

Despite my love of food, I’m not a big fan of many of the traditional Christmas foods. I find Christmas cake far too dense. Mince pies are weird. I don’t feel like Panettone.

Like, I don’t hate them. I will have the odd mince pie or a slice of Christmas cake if we’ve got it.

But I don’t look forward to them, get excited when they appear in shops or scoff them constantly. I could live without. 

Stollen, however, I love. I could eat stollen all of the time! Mincemeat Chelsea Buns are pretty great too!

When I was younger, I didn’t like Marzipan, but there was clearly something wrong with me because OMG! It’s possible that I just associated it with all of those dense Christmas cakes. 

The marzipan in a Stollen recipe is absolutely the best bit. However, all of the fruit is pretty great too. And the subtle spices. Ah, it’s just yummy!

What is it?

A traditional German Christmas stollen recipe is a Christmas favourite. While it originated in Germany, stollen and Stollen Bites are now common all over the world at Christmas time. 

An authentic German stollen recipe is a fruit bread, made with yeast and bread flour, filled with dried fruits, zest, and spices, with marzipan running through the middle, topped with icing sugar. 

Common Questions

Is Stollen a Bread or a Cake?

It’s bread. It’s made with bread flour and yeast and has to prove, just like bread. But, it’s a sweet dough, like a cinnamon roll, and the added fruit and sugar make it fairly cake-like. 

I suppose it’s fair to say you eat stollen with marzipan like you’d eat a slice of cake, as a sweet snack or pudding, and not like you’d eat a bread. But it is bread.

Is Stollen the Same as Fruit Cake?

No. Because it’s bread. 

While stollen does contain many of the same fruits as a fruity Christmas cake, it’s much lighter, breadier, and the fruit is evenly spaced, instead of packed together. 

What Does It Taste Like?

A Christmas Stollen cake tastes as you’d expect it to with the ingredients. 

I use a fair amount of cardamom in my easy stollen recipe, which really comes through in the dough. I also like to add the marzipan as a log, so you get nice big bites.

Stollen has a very fruity taste, with a hint of spice. It’s really lovely.

How Do You Shape Stollen?

I think Christmas Stollen Recipes should be a bit rough. I don’t spend ages shaping my stollen. 

I roll the dough out into a rectangle, on a well-floured surface. I then add the log of marzipan, slightly to one side, and fold the dough over. 

I moisten the edges with egg wash, so they stick together nicely and press down. That’s about it. My Christmas Stollen is rarely neat, but it tastes delightfully festive, so who cares!

Can You Make Stollen without Raisins?

Totally! If you don’t like raisins or any of the other fruits, you can leave them out.

To make stollen without raisins, keep the total fruit weight (225g) the same as in the recipe, but add fruit that you do like instead.

You could add extra cherries, apricots, cranberries etc. Just make sure anything big, like apricots, are chopped into smaller chunks.

You could also skip the almonds if you aren’t a fan.

Don’t be scared to make changes to this recipe to fill it with things that you love. I’m always tempted to give chocolate chips a go!

How Do You Know When Stollen is Cooked?

I bake my stollen with marzipan for about 25mins at 160 degrees, in my fan assisted oven. But, your time and temperature could vary slightly depending on your specific oven. 

Typically, when I bake bread, I give the bottom a tap to see if it’s done. If it sounds hollow, it’s ready. 

This doesn’t make this same sound. So that’s a no go. 

It does, however, turn a lovely golden brown. If it’s still a little pale, give it a little longer, and if you aren’t sure, cover with foil to stop the top darkening too much (the sugar content means this can happen quite quickly) and give it an extra 5-10 minutes. 

How Long Will Stollen Keep?

Kept in a bread box, or another sealed container, stollen will last for a few months, which is great. 

Once it’s cut, it can start to dry out a little, especially if left on the side for too long. But, then I like to toast it and spread with butter, so it’s still fab!

Can You Freeze Stollen?

Because stollen lasts so long in a sealed container, you rarely need to freeze it. But you could. Leave to cool on a wire rack, wrap tightly and place in the freezer before dusting with icing sugar. 

When you are ready for it, leave to thaw completely before brushing with melted butter and dusting liberally with icing sugar. 

Making Stollen Bites

I often use this recipe to make Stollen bites, instead of a big log. These also last for ages and taste wonderful. 

This recipe will make absolutely loads of bites, so you could halve it if you wanted a more manageable amount. The same goes for the full loaf.

This recipe will make about a 30cm long loaf. You could halve it for something smaller. 

For bites, I roll the dough into little squares, around 2inches. I then add a little chunk of marzipan, and wrap the dough around, again using egg wash to seal. 

I follow the recipe of the recipe as normal, just reducing the bake to 12-15minutes. 

You’ll notice that there are no photos of my bites. That’s because I can’t make them anything approaching neat and even. If you can, please show me!

Husband insists it would be neater to put it together as a long, thin, log, and then slice into even segments, like when I make cinnamon rolls. He is perhaps right. But that doesn’t seem as fun?

Christmas Stollen

Author NameAuthor: Donna

Stollen is a traditional German Christmas bread. Filled with dried fruit, nuts, and spices, as well as a log of marzipan, it’s unbelievably festive and super tasty.

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course Sweets

Cuisine German

Servings 15 slices or 1 30cm loaf

Calories 270 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 75 g Raisins
• 75 g Sultanas
• 25 g Mixed Peel
• 50 g Glace Cherries (Chopped)
• 50 g Blanched Almonds (Chopped)
• Zest of 2 Lemons
• 1.5 teaspoons Ground Cardamom
• 0.5 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• 0.5 teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 0.5 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla Essence
• 375 g Strong white bread flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 7 g sachet instant yeast
• 50 g Caster sugar
• 0.5 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Egg (Beaten)
• 65 g Melted butter or Margarine
• 150 ml Milk
• 200 g White Marzipan
• 1 Beaten Egg (for brushing)
• Icing sugar (for dusting)

Instructions

 

• Mix the fruit and almonds together in a bowl, mix in the lemon zest, nutmeg, cardamom ginger, cinnamon, and vanilla.
• Cover and leave to one side until needed.
• Tip the bread flour, yeast, and sugar into a large mixing bowl and mix together before adding the salt.
• Add the beaten egg.
• Melt the butter and milk together in a pan. This should be warm to touch, but not bubbling.
• Pour the milk and butter mixture into the flour.
• Stir until it starts to come together into a dough.
• Tip out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, adding more milk or flour if required.
• Place in an oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave for one hour until doubled in size.
• After this, remove from the bowl and knead in the fruit, a handful at a time until evenly spread.
• Return to the bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave for 20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and line a large baking tray.
• Roll the marzipan into a 30cm long log or baton.
• Roll the stollen dough to 30cm x 15 cm on a well-floured surface.
• Place the marzipan on top, slightly to one side and dampen the edges of the dough with wet fingers.
• Fold over and press down, covering the marzipan.
• Place on a lined baking tray, cover, and leave for 30 minutes.
• Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.
• Once baked, remove from tray and place on a wire rack to cool.
• While still warm, brush with the last beaten egg and dust liberally with icing sugar.

Notes

• Cover with a clean tea towel or use cling film.
• If at any point the dough is too sticky to work with (like when adding the fruit) add more flour.
• I line my baking tray with reusable baking paper (affiliate link).

Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.

Keyword Christmas recipes

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