German Christmas Stollen

It is impossible to imagine a holiday of the same name in Germany without the German Christmas stollen. On the eve of his store shelves are literally bursting with colorful packages of these cupcakes! But the most correct housewives, of course, bake stollens on their own, often according to family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. By the way, these incredibly fragrant and tasty muffins are prepared a few weeks before Christmas: they are perfectly stored (in the composition - rum, which is a natural preservative) and even become even tastier over time. In general, the willpower of the Germans can only be envied! We suggest that you test our recipe for a traditional stollen in practice, and keep it for several weeks or eat it right away - it's up to you!

Ingredients

• wheat flour - 2 3/4 cups
• a mixture of any nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, walnuts, macadamia, cashews) - 2 cups
• a mixture of candied citrus fruits - a large handful
• dark raisins - a large handful
• butter - 120 g
• fresh egg yolks - 6 pcs.
• dry yeast - 15 g
• milk - 1/2 cup
• butter for lubrication
• brown sugar Demerara - 3 tbsp l.
• dark rum or liqueur (Cointreau) - 1/2 cup
• 1/2 lemon zest - 1 lemon
• sugar - 1 tsp
• vanilla - half a pod
• powder flour
• salt - 1 tsp
• butter - 100 g
• vanilla - 1/2 pod
• powdered sugar - 1/2 cup

Directions

1. Prepare dried fruit for the German Christmas stollen. Place the raisins, candied fruits, and the nut mixture in a non-metallic bowl, top with the rum and let sit for 4-6 hours.
2. Then fold in a colander, dry (no more liquid from soaking) and roll in flour so that the pieces do not stick together.
3. For Christmas stollen dough in a deep bowl, mix milk with regular sugar, add yeast and 5 tbsp. l. sifted flour; knead the dough until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 20 minutes.
4. Chop the lemon zest for stollen. Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and mix with softened butter.
5. Add the remaining flour, brown sugar, vanilla butter and yolks to the dough; knead a smooth dough.
6. Add prepared mixture of candied fruits, fruits and nuts, zest and salt. Knead on a floured work surface. Place the stollen dough in a deep bowl, cover with a towel and place in a warm place for 2 hours.
7. Roll out the stollen dough in an oval shape. With the edge of your palm, make a longitudinal indentation in the middle of the oval and fold the right half of the dough over the left half so that it goes slightly beyond the middle. Put the dough for stollen on a baking sheet lined with parchment, cover with a towel and leave in a warm place for 1 hour.
8. Bake stollen in an oven preheated to 170–180 ° C until tender, about 1 hour. After 40 minutes. you can cover it with foil so it doesn't burn. The wooden stick stuck in the cupcake should come out dry.
9. Melt the coating oil. Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and add to the butter, stir.
10. Lubricate a hot Christmas stollen just removed from the oven with 1/4 butter, then sprinkle 1/4 of the powdered sugar through a fine strainer. Wait for a crust to form and repeat 3 more times with the remaining oil and powder.