A rather underwhelming “snack” at TJ’s inspired me to ask where y’all get your favorite Christstollen.
I wasn’t sure whether to park this in the baking section & didn’t find any previous threads on it in that category, but of course if peeps have a trusted recipe they love, I hope it’s ok if they reply here — or it can be moved into the baking section if it turns out more people make Stollen than purchase it.
My personal experience with various Stollen imported from Germany has been mostly disappointing. Dry AF, dusty, too much of that dried fruit biz, not enough marzipan.
I get mine from Lidl.
fresh - not stale.
Lidl typically has quite the spread of German “holiday treats”
Aldi used to stock/sell a lot of import German specialties - today, not so much.
many people like to compare Stollen to Panettone. they’re similar, but not the same.
I do 19th century (American) fruitcakes - reactions are usually “?all that in one cake?”
fruitcake aka English Wedding Cake - much denser, unlimited shelf life . . .
just not the same as Stollen or Panettone.
nor is Stollen = Panettone.
Stollen is denser. Panettone is lighter/air-ier . . .
I like them both, and I buy and eat both.
nothing wrong with ‘sorta’ the same and just as tasty!’
yes I have, a few times, its really fun and delicious- but I cant eat so much of that kind of stuff these days and I dont have people around to consume it any more. It also had competition, from blueberry buckle, as a Christmas morning treat. Im afraid those types of eating are on hold for a while… Have you made it?
When I was a kid, my aunt would send us stollen from a bakery near her apartment in Chicago. It was delicious. The ones I’ve purchased at Aldi and World Market are underwhelming. Quite one note, not enough almond paste, too much powdered sugar. I’m going to see if anything better is available locally.
Edited to add: The nearby German bakery has such a crappy website I can’t tell if they actually sell stollen. But the Swiss bakery does carry a version they make in-house. I’m inspired to give it a try!
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BarneyGrubble
(Fan of Beethoven and Latina singers)
10
I get mine from a local German bakery, Stubbe Chocolates. The Konditormester at the bakery is also an instructor/examiner at the local Cordon Bleu school.
there are any number of “seasonal” dishes / items - from many ethnics/areas - that entail special circumstances and/or prep ‘outside’ of the ‘norm’
as these seasonal things tend to be ‘once in a great year’ events, in my personal opinion, it is just much easier and more successful to buy ‘that stuff’ from the specialty source.
but, that’s just me.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
12
Lidl has seen us right with “stollen bites” once again.
And panettone and a rich fruit cake (I don’t like the icing that comes with most traditional Christmas cakes). The cake goes well with cheese (the two together is a regional thing in the north of England).
I happen to enjoy the Stollen Crisps at TJs, and consider them an altogether different beast than Stollen. I get an incredible (and $$ version) at a local bakery. I’m always tempted to try the stollen bites at Aldi, but haven’t done so because I think they will disappoint in comparison. https://www.theplacidbaker.com/
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
15
They’re delish. Although I’m no expert about “good” stollen
A truly good Stollen is hard to find. As I said elsewhere (mabez in the TJ’s thread) — most are dry as dirt, or overwhelmed with the candied fruit I don’t care for, or don’t have a sufficient amount of marzipan.
The ideal Stollen is moist, chills out with the GD fruit candy, has a proper amount of marzipan & enough powdered sugar on top to make you think you’ve been transported back in time to a wild party at Studio 54
Sadly, I lost the recipe i used - which was a xerox copy of an old workmate’s recipe. I it had orange peel and bits of dried fruit fruit soaked in orange juice and brandy or rum as I recall, so it had a very fresh but slightly boozy flavor, lots and lots of butter. a little spice and a rich yeast dough. marzipan was not a part of it. The recipe made two big loaves. I was going to say I might start with something in Luisa Weiss’s book, but she does not offer a traditional stollen - her Christbrot would be the closest…
this recipe from the Settlement Cookbook looks pretty good tho I would sub out some of the rum for orange juice and maybe switch from lemon to orange rind. As well as think about the size. There is nothing better than thefragrance of the rich yeast dough rising - though you have to account for the rise taking a very long time. https://www.reddit.com/r/Old_Recipes/comments/l2u4jh/nearly_lost_stollen_recipe/
Oddly enough, I’d never had stollen until I lived in Japan where any worthwhile bakery (strange to be sure, but not commonly found at patisseries there!) is sure to carry it. They ALWAYS cost an arm and a leg and I was rarely able to afford any, Sometimes I could find thin slices or some day old stollen, but otherwise it was out of my price range, And I have no idea why it’s so popular in Japan.
