Grandpa's Christmas Stollen

This is me and my grandpa, Herb. I'm not sure what year this photo was taken, only that it was a Christmas Eve in the early 80's and that we are sharing a cup of eggnog. I love this photo.

It's hard to explain how and why my grandpa was so awesome. For starters, he loved me. I was never a daddy's girl, but I was surely a grandpa's girl. He brought me jelly donuts (my favorite), called me sweethaht in his New York accent, and took the curvy, hilly "shortcut" home from the store with me even though it actually took longer to get home that way. We took his Dalmatian, Molly, to the park, and downtown he'd go through the revolving doors of office buildings with me, garnering odd looks from people in suits. The house he shared with my grandma was a gloomy, nicotine-stained wonderland of seashells, old National Geographics, bells, tea sets, books, slides, and other odds and ends that kept me occupied for hours at a time. For many years they lived right around the corner from me and my parents; our backyards were catty corner to one another, and I frequently fled to their back gate as a response to some real or imagined injustice perpetrated by my parents. To say that I loved my grandparents, and especially Grandpa, does not even begin to describe the relationship I had with them.

Grandpa died in 1995, when I was 14. With him died the long tradition of the Christmas stollen. Stollen is a German bread, similar to fruitcake but better, and Grandpa made it every year for Christmas Eve. He left the recipe behind, but it seemed that no one was up for the challenge of baking it. From 1995 forward, there was no Christmas stollen. This year, emboldened by my first bread-making experience a few months earlier, I decided to pick up the mantle.

A week or so before Christmas I called my mom to ask for the recipe. "Let me call you back with it," she said. On December 23 I called her again. "Let me call you back," she said again.

"That's what you said the last time I asked!"
"Okay, hold on."

She finally returned with the recipe and started reading. I scribbled furiously. I wrote. And wrote. And wrote. And started to wonder what on earth I was getting myself into.


I felt a little overwhelmed. But then I went to the store and got what I needed. There was no candied angelica to be found, nor candied citrus peel. Mom assured me that it didn't matter. "Just use extra candied fruit. It doesn't have to be exact." I returned home with the best approximation of the required ingredients I could find, and as directed, set all the candied fruit to soaking in rum. Christmas Eve morning, with Neil gone to work, I started baking.

Grandpa's Christmas Stollen
1 cup mixed candied fruit
1/4 cup candied angelica
1/2 cup dried (candied) citrus peel
1/2 cup seedless raisins
1/2 cup candied cherries
1/2 cup rum
2 packages live active yeast
1/4 cup warm water
pinch of sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
6 cups flour
3/4 cups butter, room temperature, cut into bits
1 cup blanched & slivered almonds
4 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Combine fruit with rum, stir, and let soak at least one hour, preferably overnight.


Pour water into small bowl, sprinkle in yeast, add pinch of sugar and stir. Wait for yeast to bubble.

Strain fruit and reserve rum. Dry fruit with paper towels.


Put fruit in paper bag with 2 tbsp flour and shake to coat.

In medium saucepan, heat milk, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt until lukewarm, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves.

Off heat, stir in rum, almond extract, lemon zest, and yeast mixture.

In large bowl, combine 3 cups of flour and yeast mixture with wooden spoon. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Stir into mixture. Add butter bits to mixture, beat 100 times. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until the dough forms a soft ball.


Turn out onto floured surface, sprinkle generously with flour, and knead, adding flour as necessary. Return dough to bowl and gently knead in fruit and nuts, taking care that fruit does not discolor dough. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in warm location until dough is doubled in size.


Turn dough out onto floured surface, punch, and knead again.

Divide dough and put half back into bowl. With a rolling pin, shape dough into rectangle 12" long by 8" wide and 1/2" thick. Melt 2 tbsp butter and mix with 2 tbsp sugar; brush surface of dough with mixture.

Fold long side of dough over to center, then repeat with other side, overlapping by 1". Press the outside edges of the dough gently. Taper the ends of the loaf slightly and push sides together to mound center. Loaf should be 13" long and 3-4" wide.


Repeat with other half of dough.

Place loaves on 11x17 baking sheet and brush with butter.


Cover with wax paper, propping the wax paper on two tumblers so that they do not touch the dough. Place in a warm location until doubled.


Preheat oven to 375°. Bake 50 minutes or until brown, turning halfway through.


Cool on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.

I am pleased to report that the stollen turned out exactly as it was supposed to. We had the ceremonial cutting and first tasting of the stollen by the baker. We have many years' worth of photos of this event; now, after an 11-year hiatus, there will be more.

I cannot tell you how pleased I am to have revived this tradition. My mom was very proud of me. I know Grandpa would be too.