Award-winning Christmas Stollen FADI style

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1 kg flour
• 450 g butter
• ½ liter of milk
• 200 g sugar
• 100 g fresh yeast (2 1/2 cubes)
• 10 g salt
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 tsp mace
• 1 pinch of clove powder
• 1 lemon(s), grated peel (untreated)
• 1 tbsp bitter almond flavoring or 30 g bitter almonds
• 1 tsp ginger, freshly grated
• 30 g candied ginger, finely chopped
• 500 g raisins (half dark, half light)
• 150 g currants
• 150 g almond sticks
• 150 g lemon peel, candied
• 150 g orange peel, candied or bitter orange peel
• 100 g butter
• 60 g granulated sugar
• 70 g powdered sugar
• 4 packs of vanilla sugar, real

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest time approx. 3 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 50 minutes; Total time approx. 4 hours 35 minutes

Awarded by the restaurant “La Pomme Cannelle” (part of the “Hôtel Royal” in Luxembourg City)

Makes one VERY large Stollen (baking tray size!!) or 2 smaller ones. Sift flour into a large baking bowl, make a small well in the middle, crumble in the yeast, mix with a little warmed milk and 1 teaspoon of sugar to form a runny slurry. Leave this pre-dough to prove in a warm place for 45 minutes. Blanch the raisins and currants in boiling water and let them swell for 15 minutes. Then strain and dry carefully with a kitchen towel. Chop the candied lemon and orange peel. Dip a knife in hot water or use scissors to do this. Heat the butter until it is liquid. Heat the milk to lukewarm. Mix the pre-dough with the butter, milk, sugar and spices. Beat the dough vigorously until it comes away from the sides of the bowl in a ball. Tip: Knead the dough by hand to get a better feel for its consistency. Let the dough prove for about 1 hour. Now add the raisins, almonds, and candied fruit. Knead and let rise for another 45 minutes to 1 hour. Preheat oven to 180°C (top and bottom heat). Grease the Stollen baking lid and baking sheet with butter. Place the Stollen in the baking lid and bake for 45-60 minutes (test for doneness with a knitting needle). Remove the Stollen baking lid 10-15 minutes before the end of the baking time. While the Stollen is still hot, brush it with melted butter, sprinkle with granulated sugar and vanilla sugar, and finally with powdered sugar. Allow to cool completely and wrap it airtight in cling film and aluminum foil. Tip: – Stollen baking lids are available from specialist retailers as a baking aid. – The Stollen should ideally be baked around 6 weeks before Christmas. Only then will it taste moist and be subtly infused with the aroma of the spices. If you like, you can also fill the Christmas Stollen with marzipan – decadently delicious! With this recipe, I won a cooking competition in the dessert category in December 1999, and on December 15, 1999, I was featured on the cover of the Luxembourg weekly magazine “REVUE.” Just a side note, so everyone knows that I didn’t simply copy the recipe.