Advent Stollen

A stollen is a German fruit bread which is often eaten at this time of year. Christmas ones usually have marzipan through the middle but we like it plain with butter for breakfast. Here's a recipe to make 2 stollen, one for eating now and one for the freezer.

300g sultanas

100g candied lemon peel

100g candied orange peel

200g almonds

4 tbsp lemon juice

750g flour

fresh or dried yeast

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 litre milk

300g butter or margarine

100g sugar

icing sugar for dusting

Chop up the peel and the almonds, pour the lemon juice over and cleave to soak for 30 minutes. Put the flour in a bowl and stir in the sugar and vanilla essence, cup the butter/margarine into small pieces and scatter on top of the flour. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and add this to the flour mixture. Knead to a smooth dough. (I always need extra flour for this bit)

Leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Knead in the peel, sultanas and almonds and leave to rise for another 10 minutes. Divide the dough into 2 halves and roll out each piece into a wide rectangle. Fold the sides of the rectangle into the middle, with one slightly overlapping the other, to make the distinctive 'swaddled' shape of a stollen.

Place each stollen on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, to make sure they don't stick, leave to rise for another 30 minutes.

Bake at 190C for about 60 minutes but keep checking in case you have a fast oven. The stollen is done when it's brown on top and sounds hollow when you knock it on the bottom. Cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar before eating. Delicious !!