Cranberry Almond Butter Spelt Stollen

Recipe From What's For Lunch, Honey?

By Meeta K. Wolff

Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Makes: 1 Stollen

Ingredients

• 250g unsweetened dried cranberries

• 6 tablespoons dark rum

• 750g spelt flour (Type 630)

• good pinch of cinnamon

• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

• 16g dry yeast (2 packets)

• 175ml milk

• 150g brown sugar

• pinch of salt

• 200g butter, melted + 100g butter, melted

• 100g almond butter

• 200g sliced almonds

• 75g icing sugar

Method

1. Coarsely shop the cranberries and allow to soak in the rum for at least one hour.

2. Place the spelt flour in the bowl of a stand mixer and make a well in the middle. Add the yeast and sprinkle some of the sugar over the yeast, then pour about 50ml of the milk. Tightly cover the bowl and allow the yeast to stand. Once bubbles begin to rise from the yeast quickly stir the mixture. Then add all the ingredients except the cranberries and almond slices. Using the hook attachment of the stand mixer. knead the dough very well making sure it come together smoothly.

3. Transfer the stollen dough to the countertop and add the cranberries and almonds. Give the dough another good knead to spread the fruit and nuts throughout the dough. Cover and allow to rise for an hour.

4. Sprinkle some flour on the countertop and form the dough into and oval loaf then cut a groove down the middle of the loaf about 1 cm deep. Allow the stollen to rest for another hour.

5. Line a baking tray with baking paper and bake the stollen for a total of 1 hour. Keep an eye on the stollen if it begins to darken cover the stollen with aluminum foil and place a second baking tray under the first one.

6. Melt the remaining butter. Take the stollen out of the oven and while it is still hot brush generously with butter then sprinkle icing sugar over the top.

7. While it is still warm wrap aluminum foil and keep for one week in a cool and dry place. The stollen needs to mature or it will be bland and simply fall apart when you try to cut it. The longer you allow it to mature the moister and tastier it will get.

Stollen Notes:

• Butter is part of this recipe so please do not substitute this with margarine or any other fat.

• You can grate some marzipan into the dough as a moist alternative.

• When you add the soaked fruit and nuts, make sure you knead the dough well to really get the fruit into the dough.

• Butter and sugar give the stollen a longer shelf life. Apparently my mother-in-law has said up to 3 months. Our stollen has never lasted that long!

• You can freeze the complete stollen in the freezer and then allow to thaw at room temperature overnight. Make sure you pack the stollen well before freezing to avoid freezer burns!

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