Let the Christmas Madness begin!!! ;) To be honest – if you want to do this Christstollen now, you are almost a tiny bit late to make it – so hurry up! A good Christstollen needs at least 3-4 full weeks to get ready to be eaten. The preparation itself is pretty easy and fast, but the Stollen should be stored for a while to develop its full flavors. It is not going bad, don’t worry ;)
Recipes for Christstollen are going back to the 14th century, I read some time ago – so it is quite an old bake. Well.. “old” in terms of “made for a very long time” and “not boring or ready to throw away” ;) The really good Christstollen are produced in Dresden – these folks have a long tradition in baking these sugary monsters. Christstollen are made with a heavy yeast dough. “Heavy” does not only mean that one of these stollens put on quite some weight on a scale, but also that the dough is full of fat and sugar. Well… and of course they are completely covered in confectioners’ sugar – so be warned. It is quite a lot to take in. If you never had a Christstollen you will love it immediately or hate it immediately. There is nothing in between ;)
Anyways – it’s’ a delicious treat for the Christmas/Advent Season. Not everybody likes Christstollen because of the sweetness, the raisins, and candied lemon and orange pieces. As you can see here in this recipe you can at least get rid of the candied lemon and orange. Dried fruits and nuts work perfect as a replacement. It makes it also less sweet. At least a tiny bit ;)
INGREDIENTS / ZUTATEN
(1 stollen, approx. 15 slices)
For the dough:
1 cup (150g) dried fruits, chopped (e.g. plums, apricots, and pears)
2/3 cup (100g) raisins
1/2 cup (50g) walnuts
1/2 cup (50g) hazelnuts
1/3 cup (80ml) rum
1/2 cup (1/8l) milk
1.5 oz. (42g) fresh yeast
1 tbsp. honey
1 vanilla bean
1 organic lemon
4 cups (500g) all-purpose flour
3.5 oz. (100g) low-fat quark (curd cheese)
1/2 cup (125g) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
pinch of salt
For the sugar coating:
1 1/8 cup (250g) butter, melted
1 1/3 cup (200g) confectioner’s sugar
(1 Stollen, ca. 15 Stücke)
Für den Teig:
150g getrocknete Früchte (zB. Pflaumen, Aprikosen und Birnen)
100g Sultaninen
50g Walnusskerne
50g Haselnusskerne
80ml Rum
1/8l Milch
1 Würfel (42g) frische Hefe
1 EL (20g) Honig
1 Vanilleschote
1 Bio-Zitrone
500g Mehl (Type 405)
100g Magerquark
125g weiche Butter
100g Zucker
Prise Salz
Für die Ummantelung:
250g Butter, geschmolzen
200g Puderzucker
DIRECTIONS / ZUBEREITUNG
1. Start with the dry fruits and cut them into small pieces. Transfer in a glass jar or plastic container you can close. Add raisins, nuts, and rum and mix. Close and let soak for at least 4 hours – better overnight.
2. Heat the milk until lukewarm. Add honey and yeast and mix until completely dissolved. Let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
3. Remove the seeds from the vanilla bean by cutting it lengthwise and scratching out the seeds. Wash the lemon with hot water and grate the lemon zest. Sift the flour in a large bowl, add quark (curd cheese), butter in small pieces, sugar, and vanilla seeds. lemon zest, salt, and the yeast mix and knead all until you get a nice smooth dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place for at least 1 hour.
4. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175°C). Add the fruit mix to the bowl with the dough and knead in the fruits. Transfer to a floured surface and roll out to a rectangle with 12×18 inches (ca 30x45cm) and form a “stollen” (see pictures). Let rise for another 20 minutes (you can form a little barrier out of tin foil to prevent the stollen from losing its form). Bake for 50-60 minutes. If the stollen gets too dark, cover it with tinfoil.
5. Melt the butter. Brush the hot stollen with butter and dust with confectioner’s sugar – then brush again with butter and dust with confectioner’s sugar. Do so until all the butter is gone. Cover with an extra layer of confectioner’s sugar and wrap in tinfoil and store it in a dry place for at least 3-4 weeks before serving.
1. Die Trockenfrüchte klein hacken. In einem verschließbaren Glas oder Dose die gehackten Früchte, Sultaninen, Nüsse und Rum mischen. Mindestens 4 Stunden – besser über Nacht ziehen lassen.
2. Die Milch erwärmen, bis sie lauwarm ist. Hefe und Honig darin unter Rühren auflösen und dann ca. 20 Minuten gehen lassen.
3. Vanilleschote längs einschneiden und das Mark herauskratzen. Zitrone heiß waschen und Schale dünn abreiben. Mehl in eine Schüssel sieben. Quark, Hefemilch, die Butter in Stückchen, Zucker, Vanillemark, Zitronenschale und die Prise Salz zugeben. Alles zu einem geschmeidigen Teig verarbeiten und an einem warmen Ort zugedeckt ca. 1 Stunde gehen lassen.
4. Ein Backblech mit Backpapier auslegen. Den Ofen auf 175°C (350°F) vorheizen. Die Fruchtmischung unter den Teig kneten. Teig auf wenig Mehl zu einem Rechteck (ca. 30x45cm) ausrollen und zu einem Stollen formen. Auf dem Blech ca. 20 Minuten gehen lassen (damit der Stollen die Form behält, kann man mit Alufolie einen Ring um den Stollen bauen). Im heißen Ofen 50–60 Minuten backen. Falls der Stollen zu dunkel wird, mit Alufolie abdecken.
5. Butter zerlassen. Den noch heißen Stollen im Wechsel mit Butter bestreichen und mit Puderzucker bestäuben. Auskühlen lassen. Nochmals dick mit Puderzucker bestäuben. In Alufolie wickeln und mindestens 3–4 Wochen lagern.
Getting the typical shape for a Christstollen is quite easy. Just roll out the dough to a rectangle, use the back of your hand to divide the dough as shown in the pictures and then fold the larger part to the middle to get the typical stollen shape. To make sure the stollen keeps that shape, you can build a little barrier with tinfoil to keep the dough from spreading while baking. There are also tins to bake stollen on the market – that would make it even easier to bake… maybe an option for you.
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Here is a version of the recipe you can print easily.
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German Christstollen with Nuts
- Prep Time: 30m
- Cook Time: 1h
- Total Time: 7h 30m
- Category: Bread
- Cuisine: German
Description
Classic German Christmas bake from Dresden: Christstollen is sweet and delicious!
Ingredients
For the dough:
1 cup (150g) dried fruits, chopped (e.g. plums, apricots, and pears)
2/3 cup (100g) raisins
1/2 cup (50g) walnuts
1/2 cup (50g) hazelnuts
1/3 cup (80ml) rum
1/2 cup (1/8l) milk
1.5 oz. (42g) fresh yeast
1 tbsp. honey
1 vanilla bean
1 organic lemon
4 cups (500g) all-purpose flour
3.5 oz. (100g) low-fat quark (curd cheese)
1/2 cup (125g) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
pinch of salt
For the sugar coating:
1 1/8 cup (250g) butter, melted
1 1/3 cup (200g) confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
1. Start with the dry fruits and cut them into small pieces. Transfer in a glass jar or plastic container you can close. Add raisins, nuts, and rum and mix. Close and let soak for at least 4 hours – better overnight.
2. Heat the milk until lukewarm. Add honey and yeast and mix until completely dissolved. Let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
3. Remove the seeds from the vanilla bean by cutting it lengthwise and scratching out the seeds. Wash the lemon with hot water and grate the lemon zest. Sift the flour in a large bowl, add quark (curd cheese), butter in small pieces, sugar, vanilla seeds. lemon zest, salt, and the yeast mix and knead all until you get a nice smooth dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place for at least 1 hour.
4. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175°C). Add the fruit mix to the bowl with the dough and knead in the fruits. Transfer to a floured surface and roll out to a rectangle with 12×18 inch (ca 30x45cm) and form a “stollen” (see pictures). Let rise for another 20 minutes (you can form a little barrier out of tinfoil to prevent the stollen to lose its form). Bake for 50-60 minutes. If the stollen gets too dark, cover with tinfoil.
5. Melt the butter. Brush the hot stollen with butter and dust with confectioner’s sugar – then brush again with butter and dust with confectioner’s sugar. Do so until all butter is gone. Cover with an extra layer confectioner’s sugar and wrap in tinfoil and store it in a dry place for at least 3-4 weeks before serving.
Notes
Enjoy baking!
I love my job, but in between I love to bake and try new things in the kitchen. A lot of my friends and colleagues encourage me to bake - for a very simple reason: they get the leftovers - and it seems they like it most of the time ;) 
Hi I really want to make it and was wondering what happens if I eat it right after it cools off? Lol very impatient, thanks
Hi Nadia,
If you eat it right after it cools off it is gone :P
The flavors need time to develop – it would not taste the same.
But if you are that impatient, make more – eat half of it and keep the rest for later :P
Cheers,
Marc
Hallo Marc,
mein Stollen ruht gerade. Deswegen kommt meine Anfrage vielleicht etwas spät. Nehme ich zum Backen Umluft oder Ober- und Unterhitze.
Liebe Grüße, Steffi
Bei mir sind alle Rezepte mit Ober-/Unterhitze.
Nicht jeder hat Umluft…
VG Marc
I tried making this today, followed exactly. Did you mean 1 1/2 cup milk ? Not 1/2. Dough was extreme dry, looked more like pie crust. Had to throw out and am very disappointed.
The 1/2 cup is the right amount. The dough is quite tough.
If you thought it needed more liquid why not adding it instead of throwing the whole dough? Sometimes flour needs different amounts of liquid.