Marzipan Stollen Recipe

German Christmas stollen is traditionally made from yeast dough, with lots of filling. We’ve already made a classic stollen with dried and candied fruits, but this time I want to offer you a marzipan stollen recipe. We will not look for where to buy that marzipan and make it ourselves. This Christmas, stollen will definitely be the highlight of your holiday table!

I already have a video of cooking this stollen, so I invite you to watch it. I am grateful for your likes, comments and subscriptions, it helps more people to see the content.

Stollen is a classic German Christmas pastry that has become famous all over the world. They are prepared 2–4 weeks before Christmas, and today they are common far beyond Germany. And for purely practical reasons, this is very convenient, as you can prepare stollens before the Christmas rush begins. When the holidays come, you have the gifts ready and the treats on the table.

By the way, you can freeze a stollen and store it for up to 6 months. Without a freezer, a stollen bread will keep for 1–2 months, so it will last almost until the end of winter. Just keep them wrapped tightly so they don’t turn into crackers.

If you don’t want to mess around with yeast, I sincerely recommend making an English Christmas fruit cake, which tastes like a stollen, also contains a huge amount of filling, and also takes 2–3 weeks to ripen. But the cooking process is much easier and faster. Moreover, my YouTube channel already has a video of making an English Christmas fruit cake, so I invite you to watch it.

The given amount of products makes 2 large stollens of about 800 g each, but you can divide the dough into 3 or 4 stollens, they will be smaller.

Starter

milk
fresh or dry yeast
sugar
all-purpose flour

Stollen dough

starter
eggs
butter at room temperature
sugar
salt
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg (optional)
orange zest
vanilla extract
all-purpose flour

Filling for the stollen

candied fruit and dried fruit (I have cranberries, raisins and homemade candied orange peel)
rum
water
almond flakes

Homemade marzipan

almond flour
powdered sugar
egg white
almond extract
nutritional rose essence

For decorating the stollen

butter
powdered sugar

First, soak the dried fruits in a mixture of rum and water (1:1) at least one day before baking the stollen.

Candied fruit does not need to be soaked.

Prepare the soaked dried fruits on the day of baking the stollen. Drain them in a sieve and leave them to drain before adding them to the dough to get rid of excess liquid.

For the starter, mix the milk, yeast, sugar and flour, stir, cover with a towel (or lid, or film) and leave for half an hour. During this time, the starter will rise and become fluffy.

If you have any problems with your yeast dough, you can find the solution in my article Why yeast dough doesn’t rise.

Add sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, soft butter, and grate the zest from the orange to the finished starter. Mix everything with a whisk until smooth.

Sift the ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, salt and all the flour into the dough and knead it. You don’t need to knead for too long, just let all the ingredients combine well, that’s enough.

Place the dough in a deep bowl, cover with plastic wrap (or a lid or towel), and put it in a warm place for 1 hour. I usually proof yeast dough in a cold oven with a light on inside.

Stollen dough is quite heavy and dense, and contains little liquid, so it will not rise 2–3 times as much as panettone. This is how it should be, so don’t worry.

Meanwhile, prepare the marzipan. This can be done in a food processor with knives.

Mix the almond flour with the icing sugar. Next, add the white of 1 egg, almond and rose essences. Mix until the mixture comes together into a lump. You can add a little more water to get an almond paste with a fairly soft consistency. It will become firmer in the refrigerator, and then it will be easier to work with.

Mash the risen dough with your fingers into a pancake, pour the filling (prepared dried fruit, candied fruit and almond flakes) on top, and gently mix the dough slowly until the dried fruit is distributed.

In this case, the dough may start to stick a little to your hands and the surface, then add flour a little at a time.

Divide the marzipan into 2 parts and roll the “sausage” from each part.

Next, form the stollen: divide the dough in half, form each half into a ball and roll it into a pancake. Put a marzipan “sausage” in the middle and wrap one part of the dough over the other.

Seal the dough around the marzipan well so that it does not leak out during baking.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the stollen formation.

Transfer the stollens to a baking sheet covered with parchment, cover with foil and leave for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170°C (bottom-up or convection).

Bake the stollens for approximately 50–60 minutes, depending on their size and the characteristics of your oven. Check the readiness with a toothpick, it should come out of the dough dry.

Generously brush the finished hot stollens with melted butter. After 10–15 minutes, sprinkle the stollens with powdered sugar on all sides.

Cool the marzipan stollens completely, wrap them in parchment, and put them in an airtight container or bag. Put them in a cool place to “ripen” for 2–3 weeks.

Before serving, sprinkle the stollen generously with powdered sugar again.

Of course, stollen is delicious even right after baking, but it will be special after it ripens, trust me. During the time, it will ripen, soak in the aromas of candied fruit, the moisture will be distributed, and you will get a deliciously flavorful holiday dessert!

Enjoy!

What do you think about this marzipan stollen recipe? Did you like it? I am happy to share my experience with you and waiting for your feedback!