Christmas Stollen
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup milk
  • ¼ cup shortening
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 5 cups sifted enriched flour. (very important to sift)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 packages of yeast dissolved in ¼ cup warm water
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
  • Cinnamon and sugar mixture (see below)
  • Fruit and nut mixture (see below)
Instructions
  1. Scald the milk in a heavy saucepan.
  2. Add shortening to the hot milk and stir until shortening is melted.
  3. Stir in sugar and salt and when this mixture has cooled to lukewarm, add part of the flour to make a batter.
  4. Beat in eggs, yeast, lemon rind and the remaining flour.
  5. Turn the dough on to a floured surface and knead.
  6. Place dough in a large greased bowl covered with a lid or towel and let rise for 1½ hours.
  7. Punch down the dough and roll into a rectangle approximately 12 X 18 inches.
  8. Reserving a piece of dough for the tree trunk.
  9. Lightly brush the rolled dough with melted butter and sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon (1/2 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon) and then top with nut and fruit mixture.
  10. The nut and fruit mixture is a combination of nuts, cherries, pineapple, citron (fruitcake mix may be used) to make one cup. I used pecans and red and green candied cherries.
  11. The edges are brought together in the center and pinched tightly with your fingers.
  12. The filled piece is turned sealed side down on a greased baking sheet with the trunk arranged in place. For the trunk, I roll the dough into two pieces and twist.
  13. Make cuts within an inch of the center then turn the dough and lay flat exposing the fruit and nuts forming scallops.
  14. Additional fruit may be added to fill in if necessary.
  15. After the stollen has risen to double in size, it's baked in a 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes. It the dough gets dark quickly, cover lightly with aluminum foil.
  16. Icing and any decorations are added after it's cooled.
  17. To make the icing, mix one cup powdered sugar, one to two teaspoons water, milk or cream and one-half teaspoon of vanilla or lemon juice.
  18. Drizzle or pipe the icing in crisscrossed festoons and outlines.
  19. Enjoy!
Recipe by Sock Box 10 at https://sockbox10.com/recipes/christmas-stollen/