1. Mix the candied orange peel, candied lemon peel and raisins with the rum in a small bowl, cover and let soak overnight.

2. Add the butter and sugar to a large bowl and mix until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one after another and mix well after each addition. Next, add the quark and mix in. Combine flour, baking powder, gingerbread spice, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix in briefly. Before the dough starts sticking together, add the rum-soaked dried fruit and mix in, and then knead everything to get a homogeneous dough. The dough will be very sticky, but that’s OK. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for about 20 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F). Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and set aside.

4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface – you want it to be about 1,5 cm thick. Cut out as many stars as possible using a large star cookie cutter*. Place them on the baking sheet with some space in between. Collect leftover dough, roll out again and cut out more stars. If not all stars fit on your baking sheet, you can bake more stars in a second round. Bake the Stollen stars for about 16-18 minutes – they should have nicely browned all over.

5. Melt the butter for the decoration and let cool down slightly. Mix sugar, vanilla sugar, and confectioners’ sugar in a shallow bowl and set aside.

6. Take the Stollen stars out of the oven and brush them immediately with melted butter while still on the baking sheet. Roll the still hot Stollen stars in the sugar mixture until completely coated with the sugar mixture. Place them on a wire rack and let them cool down completely. Repeat if you have more stars to bake. The Stollen stars are good to eat for a few days if you store them in a tightly sealed container.