Quark Butter 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

Ingredients

• Zest of 1 organic lemon

• 125g sultanas

• 125g raisins

• 25g candied lemon peel

• 25g candied orange peel

• 6 tablespoons dark rum

• 600g flour + more

• 22.5g baking powder

• 250g sugar + more for sprinkling

• pinch of salt

• 2 eggs

• 250g butter, softened

• 300g quark

• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

• 4 teaspoon ground spices using ground cinnamon, anise seeds, coriander, cloves, allspice and cardamom

• 125g ground hazelnuts

• 200g sliced almonds

Method

1. In a bowl mix together the lemon zest, dried fruit, candied fruit peel and rum. Allow to soak for at least one hour.

2. In a bowl of a stand mixer attached with the kneading hook add 600g flour, baking powder, sugar, 175g butter, quark and all the spices. Knead in the mixer until everything comes together. Turn the dough out on the counter and continue to knead with your hands. You should have a smooth, pliable dough. Add the rum soaked fruit and nuts and knead until evenly spread throughout the dough.

3. 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. Press the groove a little apart.

4. Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes. In the meantime pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and bake the stollen for a total of 1 1/2 hours. After a baking time of 1 hour cover the stollen with thick aluminum foil and place a second baking tray under the first one.

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

6. Allow the stollen to cool completely. Then wrap in waxed paper and 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.

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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