Ultimate Cherry, Almond & Coconut Christmas Stollen Recipe

Cherry, Almond & Coconut Christmas Stollen

An original recipe by Not Quite Nigella

• 1/2 cup caster or superfine sugar

• 2 teaspoons instant dried yeast

• 4 cups bread flour (plus perhaps 3-4 tablespoons if mixture is too wet. I used Barilla bread flour)

• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 cup milk

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 flaked almonds

• 2 cups mixed fruit

• 1/4 cup glace cherries

• 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

• 100g/3.5ozs butter, melted

• 4 tablespoons rum

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste

• 1 egg

To fill

• 250g marzipan* (home made is best, recipe to follow)

For icing

• 1 egg white

• 250g pure icing sugar, sifted

• 1 tbs fresh lemon juice

• 4 tablespoons desiccated coconut

Step 1 - Firstly make the marzipan if you are using a home made marzipan (see recipe below).

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Step 2 - Place the sugar, yeast, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, almonds, mixed fruit, cherries and lemon rind in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix for about 30 seconds with the dough hook. Place warm milk, salt, melted butter, rum, vanilla and egg in a measuring jug and whisk the egg. Set the dough hook on the lowest speed and gradually pour in the milky and eggy mixture. Knead for about 5 minutes until elastic. Add extra flour if mixture is too sticky.

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Step 3 - Place in a greased bowl and cover with cling wrap and place in a warm spot in the kitchen for about an hour while it rises. If you don't have a warm place, sit the bowl within another bowl and fill with warm to hot water changing the water every 30 minutes.

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Step 4 - Line a baking tray with parchment. Punch down the risen dough and spread it into a rectangle as shown. Take the marzipan and shape it into a long log and place it at the edge lengthways as shown and roll up the bread dough. Allow to rise in a warm area (on a 35C oven with the fan off will do if it is chilly).

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Step 5 - Preheat the oven to 200C/400F (if you are rising the dough in the oven above, take out your stollen while the oven is preheating!). Bake the stollen for 20 minutes and then reduce the temperature to180C/350F and bake it for another 20 minutes. If you tap it lightly and it sounds hollow, it is done. Allow to cool.

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Step 6 - Making the icing. In a large bowl, whisk the icing sugar, egg white and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle on top of the stollen trying to coat it as much as possible. Then immediately sprinkle coconut on top and allow to set. Serve sliced into thin pieces.

Marzipan:

• 100grams/3.5 ozs almond meal

• 100gram/3.5 ozs pure icing sugar, sifted

• 1 egg white

• 1 tablespoon plain flour

Step 7 - In a bowl, mix all of the ingredients together until cohesive. I usually make a double batch of this and use an electric mixer but you can make it in these quantities by hand.

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