German Christmas bread with marzipan unlike the English Christmas cake is actually a bread and not cake. Marzipan is an essential ingredient, but if you prefer not to add it, you can make it without the marzipan too.

Ingredients for German Christmas Bread

Some dried fruits, some fresh, some sugar, and some bread making ingredients. That’s all it takes to make this stunning dessert.

Ingredients List for German Christmas Bread:

• Marzipan
  • 2 cups blanched almond meal (ground blanched almonds)
  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • pinch of salt
• Fruit and nut mix
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup sultanas
  • 1/2 currents
  • 1/2 cup candied fruit
  • 1 cup blanched almond slices
  • 1/4 cup rum (or brandy)
• The dough
  • 1 cup warm milk (about 110 degrees F)
  • 3 teaspoons dry active yeast
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground mace
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • icing sugar for dusting

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Making the Marzipan

Marzipan is an essential part of German Christmas bread (stollen). Let’s start with making that first.

• To a food processor add 2 cups of almond meal and 1 cup of icing sugar.
• Pulse until you have a smooth homogenous consistency.
• Then add 1 teaspoon of almond extract and 3 tablespoons of water and pulse again until you have a smooth paste-like consistency.

• Sprinkle some icing sugar on the counter and roll the marzipan out.
• Divide it into two halves and roll each half into a ball.
• Wrap each log in plastic wrap and set it aside. I like to place it in the fridge while I make the dough.

Fruit and Nut Mix

What Christmas dessert is complete without a little booze? Well, you guessed it. This Christmas dessert definitely needs booze – Rum to be specific.

• In a medium mixing bowl, mix 1 cup of raisins, 1 cup of sultanas, 1/2 cup of currents, 1/2 cup of candied fruit, and 1 cup of slivered or sliced almonds.
• Pour 1/2 cup of rum over the fruits and nuts and mix well. This will allow the fruits to soften a little as they absorb the delicious flavour of rum.
• Don’t worry, the alcohol evaporates so kids will be able to enjoy the dessert as well. Set this aside and let the rum do its thing.

Dough for the German Stollen

This Christmas dessert is a yeast based bread – just like most other bread. So, the first thing you need to do is activate the yeast.

• Heat 1 cup of milk to about 110 degrees F.
• To this add 3 teaspoons of dry active yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Sugar helps the yeast bloom.
• Let it sit for about 15 minutes.

• While the yeast is blooming, in a large mixing bowl, add 1/2 unsalted butter (room temperature), and 1/2 cup sugar.
• Add 1 egg and the yolk of a second egg as well as the zest of a small lemon.
• Mix well to combine the sugar, butter, and eggs.
• By now the yeast should have bloomed. Add that to the bowl and mix well.

Adding the Spices

It’s time for the spices.

• Mix 1 teaspoon of mace, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom to the bowl and mix well.
• This step will ensure that all the spices are evenly spread into the dough.

• Now you can add the 4 cups of all-purpose flour to the bowl.
• Mix to form a dough.
• Sprinkle some flour on a clean surface and place the dough on it.

Adding the Fruits and Nuts

It’s time to add the fruits and nuts to the dough.

• Using a spoon add the fruits and nuts to the dough. Make sure not to spoon any of the leftover rum that was not absorbed by the fruits. You don’t want to make the dough too soft.
• Mix the fruits and nuts well into the dough and knead the dough well – for about 5 or so minutes.
• Put the kneaded dough back into the bowl and put a damn cloth on top of the dough.
• Let it sit in a warm place for about 1 hour so it rises and doubles in size.

Making the Loaf

Now that you have the dough ready. It’s time to make the loaf. To make the loaf,

• divide the dough into two equal parts.
• Roll one in a ball and place it on a floured surface.
• Using a rolling pin, roll the ball into a 9-inch circle.
• Place one log of the marzipan into the middle of the circle.

• Fold one side of the circle about 2/3 of the way over to the center of the circle.
• Make sure to wrap the filling under the fold.

• Now it’s time to fold the other end over about 2/3 of the way.
• Pinch the fold well so that you get a little bump on the top of the loaf.
• Pinch both ends of the loaf as well, so that the filling doesn’t ooze out of the sides.

The Second Rise for the Stollen

The loaf needs to rise a second time. This is the difficult time-consuming part. The second rise. By this time I am so ready to make my cup of coffee and just have the stollen already. But, alas, it’s not time to eat just yet.

• Cover the loaf with some plastic wrap. I use the same wrap that I used for the filling (less waste).
• Place parchment paper on a 9×13 inch baking tray place the loaf on it and let it do the rising on it.

Baking the Christmas Stollen

At last, we’re ready to bake the German Christmas brad.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
• Once the loaves have risen for about an hour, bake the loaf for 30-35 mins.
• You will be able to smell it baking all over the house.
• They are ready when you see the loaves have browned from the top and look a little bit like a regular loaf of bread.
• Get it out of the oven and turn the oven off.

The Icing Sugar Topping

One last crucial step to making delicious German Christmas bread (stollen) is the icing sugar coating.

• As soon as the loaves are out of the oven, spread a tablespoon of butter all over each of the loaves.
• I use a brush to spread the butter, so it’s evenly spread.
• Immediately sprinkle a generous amount of icing sugar on the butter. I use a sieve to sprinkle it, so it is spread evenly and there are no lumps.

Although the Christmas stollen is ready and you are really dying to cut a slice and enjoy it, it’s way too hot for now to cut into. If you try to cut a slice, it will crumble, so it’s best to let it rest for about 15 minutes before you do.

Now you are finally ready to make that long-awaited cup of coffee, slice it into the bread, and enjoy!

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