I’ve been on a little bit of a Christmas baking kick. One of the things I got hungry for a couple of weeks ago (before Thanksgiving, even) was stollen–a German Christmas bread with cardamom and almonds.
My mom used to be all over the bread-making–she did a batch of whole-wheat bread every week or so, she made fantastic sticky buns every so often, and she was not daunted by making stollen, which is also a yeast bread. We had it every year for Christmas breakfast.
But then…the regular bread-making tapered off. Then the treats like sticky buns went. (I think this had to do with my mom starting to do real paying work–the brutal ’80s. Also, we moved to a house with a less inspiring kitchen.) And then the stollen gave out.
But not in a bad way. It’s just that my mom found a recipe for a quick-bread version of stollen (ie, no yeast required) in a most unlikely spot: The Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas. In its day, it was a classic, but it now seems to be out of print. Vegetarians don’t have a great reputation for baking, but this recipe alone rights several decades of carob-based wrongs.
Which is not to say I haven’t tinkered with it. I replaced mace with nutmeg, for instance–I figured that if I, who keeps a very extensive spice rack, have no other call for mace the whole rest of the year, it’s just not worth it. And candied lemon peel–too icky-sweet. I also make it in a food processor sometimes, which is handy (and helps infuse the bread with the flavor of the fresh lemon peel).
And in perhaps the most genius innovation (if I do say so), I split the recipe into two small loaves–one for eating fresh, and one for freezing and eating later. We’ve only got two mouths here on Christmas morning this year, but that wouldn’t stop me from trying to finish the better part of a whole loaf myself, and then moaning all day about how my stomach hurts. The bread has quite a bit of butter in it, see, but that doesn’t stop me from slathering a little bit more on each slice.
Almond-Cardamom Christmas Bread (aka Faux Stollen)
This recipe relies heavily on a food processor, though I do suggest other options in the instructions. The only thing that it’s really nice to have a food processor for is grinding the almonds. So if you don’t have one, you’ll want to buy 3/4 cup of ground almonds or really go to town on some sliced almonds with a sharp knife, or pound them in a mortar.
Makes 2 6-by-4-inch loaves, or one 10-by-6-inch loaf
3/4 cup sugar
zest from 2 lemons
1 cup blanched sliced almonds, divided
2 1/2 cups flour, divided, plus more for kneading
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (about half of a whole nutmeg)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (seeds from 8-10 cardamom pods)
13 tablespoons butter, chilled and divided
1 cup cream cheese (one 8-oz. package)
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons brandy
1 cup golden raisins
Confectioner’s sugar (optional, for garnish)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Pulse to combine–about 6 or 7 one-second pulses. (If you’re not using a fo-pro, just mix the sugar and zest together well in large bowl.) Add 3/4 cup sliced almonds and pulse again, until they are coarsely ground. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour, plus the baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cardamom. Pulse again to blend well.
Cut the butter into tablespoons. Add 12 tablespoons to the food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand. (If no fo-pro, mix the butter in using a pastry cutter or two knives–whatever strategy you’d normally use for making pie crust.) Pour the contents of the food processor into a bowl.
Cut the cream cheese into small blocks and place in the food processor bowl (no need to wash it). Add the egg and run the processor to combine. While the processor is running, add the vanilla and brandy through the feed tube. (The Vegetarian Epicure suggests using a blender for this–so ’70s! And of course you could also use an electric mixer.)
Pour the cream-cheese mixture into a large bowl and stir in the raisins. Gradually stir in flour mixture with a wooden spoon or wide spatula, then add the remaining cup of flour, until you wind up with a thick, ragged dough.
Work the dough into a ball and turn it out on a heavily floured board. Knead it for just a minute or so, until it is reasonably smooth and holds together. Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into an oval, about 6 inches long and 5 inches wide. With the blunt edge of a knife, crease it just off center, lengthwise. Fold the smaller side over the larger and place the stollen on an ungreased baking sheet. (You can also make one large loaf, starting with an 8-by-10-inch oval.)
Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a small pan. Brush the loaves lightly with melted butter, then scatter over the remaining 1/4 cup sliced almonds. Bake for about 50 minutes–the bottoms of the loaves will be dark brown, and a toothpick stuck in the center will come out oily, but with no crumbs, though the whole thing will seem alarmingly underbaked. (A single large loaf will take more like 1 hour and 10 minutes to bake.)
Allow the loaves to cool slightly on racks, then dust with confectioner’s sugar. Allow to cool fully–at least a couple of hours–before slicing, to allow the center to set; plus, the cardamom and lemon flavors are stronger in the cooled bread.
I thought I had already commented on this, but I guess I failed. I will not fail, however, to make this as soon as possibly, perhaps even this weekend when we’ll be hosting my in-laws. Yum.
oh YUM, I am so making that. Also coveting recipe for your mom’s yeasted version now!
She said she uses the “Christmas Loaf” recipe in Joy of Cooking (older eds). I haven’t yet inspected it to see whether there are noticeable modifications…
This counterfeit stollen looks just as good as the real deal. In this case, I’d say there’s no reason to ‘Beware of imitations’!
Thanks, David. Let’s keep it hush-hush… No one need be the wiser!
I made this stollen yesterday morning, and we ate it about 3 hours after it came out of the oven. It was wonderful! I sent half a loaf home with my friend (we ate the other half between us), and I have a loaf left over for yours truly. I wonder if dried apricots would be good in place of the golden raisins, or even a candied orange peel and dried cranberry combo would be nice. I also thought dried sour cherries might be tasty. It seems like this recipe – which is a deviation from “traditional” stollen, would stand up to fruit swappin’. It’s delicious as-is, though, don’t get me wrong.
So, thank you so much for this recipe! I expect will be making this for Christmases to come.
Glad to hear it worked out for you, Meg! I’ve wanted to try dried apes too–I love them in basically anything anyway. And I have made it with currants in addition to the golden raisins (I think that was in the original recipe), which is very nice too!
I think I must be missing something… When is the remaining 1 cup of flour that was divided from the original 2 1/2 cups added? Thanks.
I got a message of a new comment in this thread and was so happy to be reminded of it! I will be making this stollen again this year – it was fabulous last year!
Sarah, so sorry! Just work it in after you combine the egg mixture and the almond-flour combo. I’m editing it now to reflect this.
And now I’m hungry for this again too!
Zora, no reason to be sorry. Thanks for the clarification. When we made it last night, we added the flour at the end when I realized it was missing. It turned out pretty well; although, we probably added too much flour. Last year when I made it I didn’t even notice the missing flour and it turned out quite good. I’ll be making another batch later in the week since I shipped this batch to family. Thanks for a great recipe.
Now I _definitely_ have to make a batch this year and get to the bottom of this flour situation!