Dear Germany

Today I had the pleasure of sampling your stollen.  Firstly, let me say 'well done and thank you!'   That was a lovely thing that you gave to the world.  Though more quantity would have been nice.  

However, I got to the middle of this mouthful of loveliness and found marzipan.  ;_;  

If I could just make an itsy-bitsy suggestion for improvement?   If you could take out the marzipan and make more of the stollen-ness right to the centre, that would be great! 

And danke for the cake.  Good call.

yours

Stollen Convert from Britain.

xxxxxx

You do know that they make a marzipan-less variety, right? In fact, I believe the original Dresdner Stollen doesn't include marzipan at all. That's probably a newfangled variant...

By Ulrich van Stipriaan (Own work) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

No stollen would be worth it's powdered sugar sprinkling if it wasn't for the intense almond flavor.

Stollen without almond is no stollen.

Almond.

Pure extract in the batter, marzipan - which is nothing but almond paste kneaded with powdered sugar - in the center.

Don't serve me stollen without marzipan.

Save it for your export biz.

Dear Stollen Convert from Britain,

There are a, nearly, unlimited variety of Christmas Stollen recipes in existence ;-) Just try: http://bit.ly/Q3JTQ2 I am sure you will find the right one for your taste!

Mit freundlichen Gruessen ;-)

PS But Christmas Stollen without marzipan is like Christmas pudding without Brandy Butter ;-)

Okay, now I have to go find some of this today!

Ditto on the almond marzipan, it's the nectar of the GODS! Just saying 

Sam - your link is the damnest thing I've ever seen. Very cool!

Jo - we didn't mean to shut you up.   You hate almond flavor?

Sam, Yes that link is fabulous

chefkeem: 10/30/2012 - 11:24 AM

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Sam - your link is the damnest thing I've ever seen. Very cool!

Jo - we didn't mean to shut you up.   You hate almond flavor?

 

Rofl, Cheffe it can develop into a 'forum pest'! One forum I was a member of developed the bad habit of answering all newbie questions with a link to LMGTFY But used sparingly it is great fun.

Jo is hunting Marzipan-free Stollen in the wild of the cold, ray, rainy UK me thinks. If she has found some, she will be back - I am sure ;-)

Sam: 10/30/2012 - 11:43 AM

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Jo is hunting Marzipan-free Stollen in the wild of the cold, ray, rainy UK me thinks. If she has found some, she will be back - I am sure ;-)

 Wrong!  I've just been to 1802, hunting down an errant Scottish man in England.  But I think I have him now.  The main thing that I can report from the turn of the 19th century is that their record-keeping was very incomplete. :(

Now I'm back on the hunt for the perfect stollen!   I think there's only one way to do this.   If everyone here sends me THEIR stollen, I'll eat it all, then report back on the best.

Deal? 

*gets ready with plate and bib* 

I quite like almonds.  It's the texture of marzipan that I don't like, more than the actual taste.  The white, powdery stuff over the stollen was gorgeous though.

The white powdery stuff is known as castor sugar, sigh. I didn't plan to bake any Stollen this year, but if I change my mind I will send you one ;-) SY

*waits under the letterbox*  :D

I looked long and hard at Stollen today while at the market, the kind with marzipan in the center, I walked away, the boxed stuff is never that good, off to the bakery next...

Actually, the boxed stuff is quite good. Brands you can trust are Bahlsen and Kuchenmeister, provided they are reasonably fresh. Since moving to the States, I usually get mine from CostPlus or Trader Joe's. If you can get any chocolate-covered gingerbread cookies from Bahlsen I'd jump on those, too. Big fights over these ensue in my family every year.

Stollen can be pretty dry if not stored properly, and if they're from a bakery who knows how long they've been sitting out there?