Uschi's almond marzipan Christmas stollen

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 50 g candied orange peel
• 40 g candied lemon
• 100 g raisins
• 4 tbsp rum, 70%
• 200 g almonds, peeled, roughly chopped
• 100 ml maple syrup or honey
• 300 g marzipan paste
• 1 tsp orange peel, grated, untreated or finesse orange peel
• 2 cl orange liqueur, Grand Marnier
• Powdered sugar, for the work surface
• 550 g flour, 550s
• ¼ liter of milk
• 42 g yeast (1 cube)
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 egg(s), whole
• 50 g sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tsp lemon zest, untreated, or Finesse
• 1 tsp Stollen spice, alternatively gingerbread spice
• 1 vanilla pod(s), pulp
• 250 g butter, soft
• Flour , for the work surface
• 150 g butter, liquid, for spreading on the baked Stollen
• 150 g icing sugar, for dusting

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 3 hours

makes 2 smaller stollen….

Finely chop the candied orange and lemon peel and marinate in rum along with the raisins. Mix the almonds with the maple syrup or honey and set aside. Cut the marzipan into small pieces and knead together with the orange peel and liqueur until smooth. Halve the marzipan and shape it into two approximately 25 cm long rolls on a work surface dusted with icing sugar. Wrap in cling film and chill in the refrigerator. For the yeast dough, sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the center. Heat the milk in the microwave, dissolve the yeast in it, and pour it into the well. Stir in a little flour to form a thick dough. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes. Whisk together the egg yolk, egg, sugar, salt, lemon zest, Stollen or gingerbread spice, and vanilla bean pulp, then add to the dough along with the softened butter. Knead in a food processor for at least 10 minutes. Now knead in the soaked fruit with the rum and the almonds in maple syrup. Cover a baking sheet with cling film and let rise at room temperature for about 1 hour. Then knead briefly with your hands, cover, and let rise again for 1 hour. Finally, knead thoroughly again, divide the dough into two pieces, shape each into a ball, and cover and let rest for another 15 minutes. Roll out each dough ball on a floured baking sheet into a rectangle measuring approximately 20 x 30 cm (it’s important that the long edges have a thicker edge), place a strip of marzipan on each piece, and tuck the edges together. Let rise in a warm place for another half hour. Preheat the oven to 170°C and bake the stollen for about 45 minutes (if you prefer a large stollen, bake it for an hour!!!). Remove the stollen from the oven, brush all over with melted butter, and dust with powdered sugar. Wrapped in aluminum foil, the stollen will keep fresh for several weeks in a cool place!