What is Stollen?
Stollen is a traditional yeast bread from Germany. Most often made for Christmas, the German word for this sweet bread is Christstollen. Traditional German stollen will be baked filled with dried fruits, candied citrus peel, chopped nuts, and spices. Marzipan stollen is what we’re making today, which is stollen bread with a ribbon of sweet and chewy marzipan running through each slices. Stollen loaves are sold and enjoyed during the winter holiday season at Christmas markets in Germany and as a holiday tradition for families around the world. You might also like to try making Pflaumenkuchen (or plum cake), which is a traditional dessert made in Germany during the summer months.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Key Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this German stollen bread:
Dried Fruit: You can use any combination of the following: Raisins, currants, and candied citrus peel. Look for these in your supermarket during the holiday season, I often find the candied peel in the produce section or near the baking ingredients. Rum: The traditional method of making stollen involves soaking the dried fruits in rum to make them plump, juicy, and tasty! If you’d prefer to avoid alcohol in this recipe, you can use apple or orange juice instead. Almonds: Chopped blanched almonds are traditional in stollen. You can also replace them with walnuts or pecans. Marzipan: White or golden marzipan can be used to fill the stollen with sweet, chewy goodness. Marzipan is a dough made primarily of sugar and almond meal. Like the candied peel, you’re most likely to find this in U.S. grocery stores during the holiday season (sometimes called “almond candy dough“), or you may want to order it online. If you’re especially ambitious, both marzipan and candied orange peel can also be made from scratch. Yeast: Active dry yeast gives this sweet bread the perfect amount of rise. You only need half of a standard packet for this stollen recipe. Spices: Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Mace are the perfect German Christmas spices. Mace comes from the outer covering of the nutmeg seed and adds a very specific flavor. If you can’t find it, use nutmeg instead.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How To Make Marzipan Stollen
Recipe Tips
No Stand Mixer? This bread can be kneaded by hand as well. Take your time, and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add a bit of flour if needed to keep it from being sticky. Double the Recipe: Stollen makes wonderful Christmas gifts. Make a few loaves to share! Try it Warm: Before eating your slice of stollen, warm it in the microwave for a few seconds to make it soft and delicious.
Storing Tips
Enjoy your freshly baked stollen right away if you like, or wrap it tightly and leave it at cool room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The alcohol that you soaked the fruit in will help to preserve the bread and the fruit itself will keep it moist. If you’ve omitted the alcohol from the recipe, you should still be able to store stollen for up to a week this way. Similarly to fruitcake or German Lebkuchen cookies, the flavors in this dessert will develop and become more delicious with time. Stollen can also be frozen for storage for up to 3 months.
What To Serve With Stollen
Christstollen is wonderful for the holidays, and pairs deliciously with mugs of mulled wine (gluhwein), just like you’d get at a German Christmas market! You can mull the wine in your crockpot and have it simmering. Your house will smell Christmassy all day long.
Can I make stollen without marzipan?
Yes, you can leave the marzipan out of this recipe. Instead of wrapping the stollen dough around the marzipan, you can just roll the dough up into a cylinder before baking.
Is marzipan the same as almond paste?
These two are similar in their ingredients, but they differ in texture. Almond paste is generally thinner than marzipan, and not easily able to be rolled or formed into shape. You can add almond paste to your stollen instead of marzipan, but note that you’ll likely need to spoon it onto the dough.
How do I make candied peel?
To make your own candied citrus peel, you can chop peels from lemons and/or oranges and cook them in a saucepan with sugar and water (for 1 cup of peels, use 1 cup sugar and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until soft. Allow the boiled peels to cool in the saucepan, then drain. You can then toss the pieces with more sugar and allow them to dry at room temperature for 1-2 days. Enjoy making and eating this traditional German Stollen bread for Christmas this year! Don’t forget to pin it so you can find it again next year too. © Little Sunny Kitchen
