Christmas Stollen

It's Christmas recipe week at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen! I have been waiting a long time to post this recipe. I included it in Not a Creature Was Purring, so the time has come. It's usually the very first thing that I bake for Christmas. While it's normally served at teatime in the afternoon with a nice cup of coffee or tea, we love it for breakfast! After all, it really is a yeast bread, even if it is sweet.

Traditional stollen is made with candied fruit. I don't find commercial candied fruit very appealing, so when the task of baking the stolen moved from my mother to me, I modernized it (don't you love the spin I give on changing up a traditional recipe?) with dried fruit. I'm partial to dried cherries and dried apricots, so that's what I use. But raisins would work well, too. Dried figs or dates would change up the flavor more, but if that's what you like, you could certainly try it. One word of caution—unsulphered apricots should taste the same, but they definitely won't be pretty when the stollen is sliced.

In Not a Creature was Stirring, I wrote about Trixie getting in trouble with the stollen. In real life, that event actually happened to my little Buttercup. I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read it, but if you have a dog whose collar says Santa, I can explain . . . keep an eye on that doggy while the dough is rising!

Do not take shortcuts when chopping the apricots. Trust me. Don't put them in any kind of food processor or chopper. You'll end up with a mess.

There's nothing terribly difficult about this recipe. There are a lot of little steps, so the recipe looks long. But there's also a lot of rising time when you can walk away for a bit. But be sure to place it well out of reach of dogs when it's rising! I do recommend baking this on a day when you have plenty of time and aren't rushing off to do other things.

The fabulous Kim Davis (no relation!) made my stollen recipe for her Cinnamon and Sugar blog. She even made a video of how to make it!

Krista’s Modern Christmas Stollen

For people only

 

1½ cups dried apricots

1¼ cups dried cherries

½ cup rum

¼ cup lukewarm water

2 packs of fast-rising instant yeast

¾ cup sugar + pinch of sugar

5½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs (room temperature)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into ¼-inch pieces

6-8 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

confectioners’ sugar

Chop the apricots and cherries with a knife (do not use a food processor) and place in a bowl. Pour the rum over them and let sit for 1 hour.

Pour the lukewarm water in a 2-cup or larger bowl. Sprinkle with the yeast and a pinch of sugar. Stir to help dissolve. Set aside (I put it in a cold oven) for 10–15 minutes. It should have doubled in size.

Pour the rum from the fruit into a bowl and set aside. Lay paper towels out, and spread with the fruit. Dab with additional paper towels to dry. Pour the fruit into a dry bowl and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of flour. Turn several times to coat. Set aside.

Combine milk, ½ cup sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed pot and heat until the sugar dissolves and a thermometer registers 110°F . Remove from heat. Stir in the rum and the yeast mixture.

Fit dough hook into mixer. (This may be made by hand, but a heavy-duty mixer like a KitchenAid  is a big help.) Measure 4 cups of flour into a mixing bowl. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the milk mixture. Whisk the 2 eggs well, then add to the dough, and continue mixing. Slowly add as much of the remaining 1½ cups flour as needed. Mix in the softened 1 cup butter. The dough should begin to shape into a ball.

Dust your hands and kneading area with flour. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead 10–15 minutes until the dough is smooth and pliable. Incorporate the fruit by pressing it into the dough a bit at a time. Flour your hands as necessary and continue to add the fruit and turn the dough.

Grease a deep bowl with butter, place the dough in the bowl, flip it once to coat with butter, cover with a kitchen towel, and place in a warm area away from any drafts for 2 hours or until doubled in size. (A cool oven will work.)

Punch the dough down and divide into 2 pieces. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Working with one at a time, roll each ball of dough out into a rectangle roughly 12 inches long and 8 inches wide. Brush each with 1 tablespoon of melted butter and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Fold one side (of the 8-inch width) over about 2/3 of the way. Fold the other side over so that it overlaps the top of the first side by about 1 inch. Press the top seam gently. Shape it into an oval with floured hands as necessary, patting it so that it is approximately 4 inches across.

Prepare a very large cookie sheet or lipped baking pan by covering with parchment paper. Transfer the dough to the parchment paper, leaving at least 3–4 inches between the two loaves. Brush each with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Place in a warm location away from drafts and allow to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake 25–30 minutes or until they are golden brown and crusty.

When cool and before serving, dust generously with powdered sugar .

 

The yeast rising.

Chopped dried apricots and cherries.

Dried fruit mixed with flour.

The dough.

Dough with dried fruit incorporated.

Fresh from the oven. All it needs is powdered sugar on top!

 

Have you read Not a Creature was Purring yet?

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Swedish Tea Ring

Murder Most Howl comes out tomorrow! I can hardly believe that it's here. So today I'm sharing a recipe from the book. We loved this! It's a big holiday tradition in Sweden, but honestly, it's delicious anytime. This recipe is a variation on the traditional recipe. It's served at tea time at the Sugar Maple Inn when snow is falling outside.

Initially, it seems a little bit complicated, but once you've made it a time or two, you'll see that it's really not more difficult than making most yeast breads. Plus, there's a decent waiting time between each of the steps, so it's not like you're hanging around in the kitchen endlessly.

The toughest part is rolling it into a long roll that is equal in size throughout. You'll see in the photos that the ends of mine were tapered. You don't want that! Okay, so it was still really good, but ideally, you'll be forewarned and keep those ends as big as the middle.

Please note that you can use raisins instead of dried cherries in the filling. I used fresh cherries to decorate it because I happened to have them, but Maraschino cherries are traditional and prettier.

Swedish Tea Ring

Dough

½ cup milk

½ cup water

2 packages instant yeast

3½ to 4 cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup butter, softened

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon cardamom

Filling

¼ cup butter, softened

¼ cup dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

½ cup walnuts, chopped

½ cup dried cherries

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons milk

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

maraschino cherries

Warm the milk and water to 105ºF to 110ºF. Sprinkle the yeast on it and stir with a fork. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Pour into a mixing bowl and use the dough hook of your mixer. Add 3 cups flour, butter, salt, sugar, egg, and cardamom. Mix until a soft ball forms. If it’s too sticky, add a bit more flour about ½ cup at a time. Let the mixer knead the dough about five minutes. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a couple more times until smooth.

Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to a 12-by-18-inch rectangle.

To make the filling, spread the softened butter on top of the rectangle. In another bowl, mix the cinnamon, sugar, walnuts, and dried cherries. Sprinkle across the dough. Roll the dough into a long, tight roll and press the seam closed. With the seam turned downward, seal the two ends together to make a ring.

Move the ring to the prepared parchment paper. With a sharp knife, slice the dough every inch or so, cutting only three-quarters of the way through. Cover the roll with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375ºF, and bake 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the ring from the oven and place on a rack to cool.

When cooled, stir together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, and drizzle the glaze all over the ring. Decorate with maraschino cherries if desired.

Use the dough hook on your mixer.

Grease and turn over before it rises.

Spread butter on the rolled out dough.

Sprinkle with cinnamon, nuts and dried cherries.

This is where you want your roll to be as thick on the ends as the middle.

You can see that it's not as big on the side where the ends meet. Don't do that! ; )

Slice, but not all the way through, and allow to rise.

Fresh from the oven!

Murder Most Howl will be here tomorrow! I have two copies to give away. Leave a comment with your email address so I can notify you if you win. I'll be choosing winners around 6PM eastern time today so I can get the books in the mail tomorrow. Good luck!