Stollen mit Marzipan

Ingredients

• 500 g flour
• 1 cube yeast (fresh)
• 1 EL vanilla sugar
• 125 ml lukewarm milk
• 65 g sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 0.5 TL lemon zest
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 150 g butter (room temperature)
• 100 g finely ground, drained almond kernels
• 100 g raisins
• 50 g candied lemon peel (cut into cubes)
• 150 g marzipan core
• 100 g liquid butter
• 50 g powdered sugar

Instructions

1. 1.

   Sift the flour into a bowl, make a well in the center and crumble the yeast into it. Add the vanilla sugar and stir with 3-4 EL milk until smooth. Cover the pre‑mix and let rest for 15 minutes in a warm, draft‑free place. Then add the remaining milk, sugar, salt, lemon zest, nutmeg, cinnamon, butter and almonds and knead everything into a smooth dough. Let it rise in a warm spot for about 45 minutes until doubled in volume.

2. 2.

   Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, add raisins and candied lemon peel, and fold them in. Roll out the marzipan into a cylinder about 25 cm long. Shape the dough into a loaf roughly 30 cm long, press the center with your hand to create a groove, then roll it out so the marzipan fits snugly inside. Fold the sides over, shape the stollen into its classic form and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let rise again for about 15 minutes.

3. 3.

   Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F) with top/bottom heat.

4. 4.

   Bake the stollen for about 1 hour, checking with a skewer test.

5. 5.

   Remove from the oven, let cool slightly and spread with liquid butter, then dust generously with powdered sugar. Let it cool completely before serving.