Cranberry & Chocolate Stollen

Adapted from Crumb by Ruby Tandoh

Stollen is a traditional German fruit bread made for Christmas, and while I am not German, it has definitely made its way into my holiday rotation. There are a lot of variations to be had by playing with the fillings. Use the quantities in this recipe as a guide, and feel free to swap whatever dried fruit/candied peel/nuts/chocolate you want. You can also swap the almond marzipan for another type, but if you don’t want to make your own, I can assure you that the store bought kind is delicious!

Make the Dough

• 250 grams (2 cups) white bread flour

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

• 2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) instant yeast

• 4 tsp baking sugar (if you have it, otherwise granulated is fine)

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 75 grams (1/3 cup) butter (I used vegan)

• 7 tbsp + 2 tsp milk (I used oat)

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 125 grams (around 3/4 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

• 75 grams (around 1/2 cup) craisins (dried cranberries)

1. Combine the flour, cinnamon, cloves, yeast, and sugar in a bowl. Stir in the salt.

2. Melt the butter in a small pan, and add the milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Ideally the melted butter will make this mixture lukewarm. Warm it gently if it is not there, and let it cool if it is too hot.

3. Add the butter-milk mixture to the flour mixture and combine thoroughly. Once combined, turn it out to knead it. The dough will be wet and you will get your hands dirty, but a solid 15 minutes of effort will give you something that’s smoother and more elastic.

4. Knead the chocolate chips and craisins into the dough, working it just enough to disperse everything (just a few minutes).

Proof & Shape

• 1 7 oz package of marzipan

1. Put the dough into a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set it somewhere room temperature to proof for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until it is doubled in size.

2. Turn out the doubled dough onto a work surface dusted with flour and roll it into a rectangle measuring about 8 by 12 inches. The dough is likely a little sticky, so just use a bit of flour where needed.

3. Shape the marzipan into a log shape about 12 inches long and place it in the middle of the dough.

4. Roll the dough around the marzipan and place it seam side down. Tuck the ends of the log underneath.

5. Pat your log into something slightly squatter and flatter, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise for around an hour, until it is 1.5 times its original size.

Bake & Top

• 75 grams (1/3 cup) butter (I used vegan)

• Powdered/confectioners sugar

1. When the second rise is close to done, preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Bake for 40 minutes. Towards the end of the bake time, melt the butter.

3. Immediately after pulling it out of the oven, brush it liberally with the melted butter. Even brush the underside.

4. Let the butter cool and then dust it generously with the sugar.

5. Slice and enjoy! Stollen keeps really well, simply wrap it in foil or put it in a sealed container and store at room temperature.

Leave a comment and let me know what variations you tried!