Stollen (Christstolle) or in other words the stoll is a German cake that is traditionally prepared for Christmas. The shape of the stollen is not accidental, it resembles a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, which symbolizes the newborn Christ.
Classic stollen is baked about 3 weeks before Christmas, and then kept in a cool place - the baked goods should “ripen”, acquire a more pronounced taste and aroma. Usually nuts, dried fruits, candied fruits, poppy seeds and spices are added to the stollen dough. Sometimes cottage cheese is used as one of the ingredients. The surface of the finished cake is very generously sprinkled with powdered sugar.
To prepare the adit, you must take the freshest and highest quality products. The dough should be kneaded thoroughly and given sufficient proofing time. The finished baked cake should be wrapped in foil and stored in a cool place, for example, on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Here you should leave the stollen for at least 2 weeks, and preferably for 3-4. The taste of baked goods will only benefit from this.
Curd stollen with raisins and almonds
Ingredients:
- 500 g of premium wheat flour;
- 200 g of high-quality butter;
- 200 g sugar;
- 250 g soft cottage cheese;
- 2 eggs;
- 10 g baking powder;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of vanilla extract;
- salt on the tip of a knife.
- 250 g seedless raisins (several varieties are possible);
- 4 things. soft pitted prunes;
- 150 g almonds;
- 1 lemon;
- 1 handful of candied fruits;
- cognac, rum or whiskey.
- powdered sugar for sprinkling;
- 100 g butter for lubrication.
Preparation:
- A day before cooking the shtollen, prepare the products for the filling, for this, thoroughly rinse the dried fruits, discard them in a colander and let them dry. Put in a bowl, cover with alcohol and leave overnight. Rum is best suited as an alcoholic component, but if it is not available, you can take high-quality vodka.
- In a large bowl, stir in sifted wheat flour, baking powder, salt and granulated sugar. Beat in the chicken eggs. Melt the butter in the microwave and stir into the flour mass. Add cottage cheese and knead a dough that is elastic in consistency.
- Place the peeled almonds in a dry skillet and brown them on the stove, then let cool and chop with a knife. Rinse the lemon thoroughly, remove the zest with a fine grater, cut the fruit in half and squeeze the juice out of each half.
- Mix the dried fruits soaked in alcohol with almonds, add chopped candied fruits, lemon zest and juice, add the rest of the rum, in which the raisins were infused. Stir all the filling ingredients.
- Combine the filling and dough, stir to distribute the food evenly. Divide the whole dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each one by hand into a cake on a sheet of parchment, roll it up and place on a baking sheet so that the seam is at the bottom. Thus, form 4 small stollins.
- Make a pair of longitudinal cuts for each stollen with a knife. Place the baking sheet with the blanks in an oven preheated to 200 ° C for 15 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 170 ° C and cook for 45 minutes.
- Remove the baked stollens from the oven and let cool. Melt the butter and brush generously to the top of the muffins. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and wrap in parchment paper or foil. Store in a cool place before the holidays for up to 4 weeks.
