German Christmas Stollen

Your search for the best German Stollen recipe has ended: moist, aromatic flaky and divinely flavorful! These homemade Christmas Stollen is INCREDIBLE!

Stollen is usually prepared before Christmas, wrapped in cling foil and placed in the refrigerator to ripen and pick up its flavor and aroma. I advise you to do it this way, keep the Stollen in the refrigerator for at least a day.

Cooking time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 130 g (1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp) unsalted butter
• 200 g (3/4 cup + 3 Tbsp) white sugar
• 2 eggs (~110 g)
• 250 g (1 cup + 1 Tbsp) soft cottage cheese (or ricotta cheese)
• 400 – 500 g (2 cups + 1/2 cup – 3 cups + 2 Tbsp) all-purpose flour
• 40 g (3 Tbsp) melted unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp lemon peel
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 10 g (1 Tbsp + 1 tsp) baking powder
• 100 g (3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp) almonds
• 200 g (1 cup + 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp) raisins
• 100 g (1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp) candied fruits
• 200 mL (3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp) water or cognac for raisins (bourbon)
• Powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Soak candied fruits and raisins in cognac, brandy, rum or water overnight. Pour boiling water over the almonds for 4 minutes and peel them.
2. Use a hand mixer to whip soft butter and sugar until white and fluffy. Add 1 egg and beat well, then add another egg and beat well again.
3. Add soft cottage cheese or ricotta and beat well until smooth.
4. Add lemon zest, vanilla extract or vanilla sugar, 400 – 500 grams of flour (I used 470 grams of flour). Add flour in portions. Stir with a mixer for 10 seconds. You cannot knead the dough for a long time so as not to develop gluten.
5. Chop the almonds with a knife and add them to the dough. Then add raisins and candied fruits. Stir with a spatula.
6. Put the dough on the table, dust with flour and roll out the dough. Roll the dough as shown in the video, put it on parchment, make foil bumpers. Bake in a preheated oven for 35 minutes 170℃ (338℉) and 20 – 25 minutes 150℃ (302℉) .
7. Once the stollen is ready and hot, brush it with melted unsalted butter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and leave to cool on a wire rack. Once the stollen has cooled, wrap it in foil and refrigerate at least overnight.

Notes:

• If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a spatula first and then knead the dough with your hands.
• Don’t worry if the dough feels very. It should be like this. If you add more flour, the stollen will be hard and more cookie-like. Add maximum 500 grams of flour
• I recommend you to leave the stollen in the refrigerator for a week or two weeks, it will be much more flavorful and juicy!