German Christmas Stollen

Christstollen - Buy online a traditional Christmas cake from Germany

In addition to the Nuremberg gingerbread, the biscuits and the fruit bread, the Christmas stollen is certainly a very popular Christmas cake. But what exactly is a stollen and how did the world-famous Dresden Christstollen come about, which you can both order cheaply from us?

Stollen - origin and characteristics

Today, a Stollen is a cake-like pastry made from yeast dough that is very fatty and sweet. Depending on the recipe, dried fruits and various spices are also added to the dough, which can also be filled with poppy seeds or marzipan. After baking, the stollen is usually smeared with warm butter and covered with white powdered sugar. If the stollen is made for Christmas, it is called a Christ Stollen or Christmas Stollen, but nothing is changed in the recipe itself. The shape of the stollen is reminiscent of the Christ Child, with the white sugar coating representing the diaper. The Christ-Stollen probably has its origin already in pre-Christian times, when a similar pastry was used to nourish the souls of the deceased during the “rough nights”. The twelve nights between Christmas and January 6th are referred to as “rough nights”. The trace of the “today's” tunnel can be traced back to the 14th century, when it was first mentioned in 1329 in a guild privilege of Bishop Heinrich I in Naumburg an der Saale. About 150 years later, the world-famous Dresden Christstollen is mentioned in a document on the bill of the Bartolomai Hospital.

Stollen - the development of the Christmas classic

In the 15th century the stollen was still a purely church fasting pastry and was often referred to as “Striezel” or “Strutzel”. Due to a church dogma, the stollen was only allowed to consist of water, flour, yeast and a little beet oil, which is why it was very dry and relatively tasteless.

Since the wealthy Dresdeners already knew how to appreciate good food at that time, the electors Ernst I and Albrecht III asked. in 1450 the repeal of the butter ban at the Vatican. Pope Innocent VIII responded to this request in 1491 with the so-called “Dresden Butterbrief”, but demanded an annual fine for the building of the church in return. In the decades that followed, the stollen was refined more and more and today typically consists of flour, water, yeast, sugar and various spices. In addition, almonds, sultanas and orange peel are added to the classic stollen. In addition to the classic raisin stollen, the grocery book also distinguishes six other stollen; Almond stollen, marzipan stollen, poppy seed stollen, nut stollen, butter stollen and quark stollen. These are characterized by a particularly high proportion of the respective ingredients.

Unusual facts about the Christmas stollen

Since the Middle Ages there have been bizarre events that are connected with the Christstollen. For example, since the 16th century there was a “tunnel compulsory” in Dresden. This obliged the bakers to bake two stollen each year, each 1.50 m in length and 18 kg in weight, and to hand them over to the king on Boxing Day. This demand only ended in 1918 with the collapse of the monarchy.

Stollen recipe to bake yourself

For those who do not want to buy a delicious Stollen online, but would rather bake it themselves, we have prepared the following delicious recipe.

• For this you need the following ingredients:
• 750g flour
• 375g softened butter
• 140g sugar
• 40g fresh yeast
• 125ml warm milk
• 375g sultanas
• 125g chopped almonds
• 125g lemon peel and / or orange peel
• Slightly grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 10 drops of bitter almond flavor
• 3 teaspoons of rum

The preparation is very easy:

1. Put the flour in a bowl and form a well. Put in the yeast, 1/3 of the warm milk and some sugar.
2. Mix the ingredients in the well to a soft pulp and let rest for about 30 minutes.
3. Add the soft butter, spices, sugar and the rest of the milk and knead everything by hand into a firm dough (do not stir!) Until the dough is no longer white.
4. Beat the dough, i.e. throw it vigorously several times on a smooth table top or similar.
5. Add the sultanas, almonds and orange peel / lemon peel, carefully knead the dough and let it rest for about an hour.
6. Shape 1 or 2 stollen, wrap in baking paper and leave to rest in the refrigerator overnight.
7. The next day, bake in the preheated oven (200 ° C fan oven) for about 50 minutes on the middle rack.
8. Brush the cooled stollen with melted butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.