Christmas stollen with raisins and almonds

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Soak the fruit

   Rinse the raisins and let them drain. Combine them with the candied peel in a bowl, pour in the rum, cover, and let soak while you prepare the dough. You can also soak the fruit the night before.

2. Activate the yeast

   Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm milk, add 1 tsp of the sugar and 2 tbsp of the flour from the total amounts, and stir. Let stand for 10 minutes, until bubbles appear on the surface.

3. Knead the dough

   Sift the remaining flour into a bowl and mix with the remaining sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, cardamom, and lemon zest. Add the yeast mixture, egg, and softened butter. Knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the bowl.

4. Let the dough rise

   Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise in a warm place for 60 minutes, until noticeably increased in volume.

5. Work in the fruit

   Drain the fruit and pour the remaining rum into the dough. Briefly knead the fruit and chopped almonds into the risen dough, just until evenly distributed, taking care not to crush the raisins.

6. Shape the stollen

   Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and roll each into an oval about 25 cm long and 2 cm thick. Press a rolling pin lengthwise into each oval, slightly off-center, then fold the narrower side over the wider side to form a raised ridge. Push any exposed raisins into the dough so they do not burn during baking.

7. Let rise again

   Transfer the stollen to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F), using conventional (top and bottom heat).

8. Bake

   Bake for 45–50 minutes, until the stollen are golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out without sticky dough. If the tops brown too quickly, cover with aluminum foil.

9. Coat with butter and sugar

   Mix the powdered sugar with the vanilla sugar. Immediately brush the hot stollen with half the melted butter and generously dust with some of the sugar mixture. Once cool, brush with the remaining butter and dust with the remaining sugar to create a thick white coating.

10. Let the flavors develop

    Wrap the cooled stollen in plastic wrap and store in a cool place. They taste best after 1–2 weeks, once the flavors have melded, and keep for 3 weeks. Before serving, dust with more sugar if desired and cut into slices.

Tip: Start slicing the stollen in the middle: cut slices from the center, then press the cut sides of the two halves together and wrap to keep it from drying out.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Vianočná štóla s hrozienkami a mandľami