Stollen help please

[lizzie]

Hi everybody.

As well as making my old mum her annual sticky toffee pud (James Martin recipe and it's stunning) I've decided to make her a Stollen too (another James Martin jobby)

2 questions I need help with please.

1. Could I make the Stollen over the next week and leave it in an airtight container? Would it still go stale? I'm not using a yeast based recipe so it wont be as doughy.

2. Would Stollen freeze well?

3. Apart from almond paste in the supermarkets which is fine, does an yone know where I could get some fresh, real marzipan. I'm going to check out Lakeland and a local Deli.

Thanks in anticipation of your thoughts folks

[Nature's Babe]

Hi Lizzie, they should keep for a little while, actually the flavour improves with keeping, the butter and icing sugar glaze helps keep moisture in, and you could soak the fruit in rum overnight to plump it adding more moisture.
Could you share your recipe? Keep in a cool place and wrap in foil.

quick Marzipan recipe
250g icing sugar
250g finely ground blanched almonds
2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

mix in a blender and chill

[Colin_M]

Great news. As well as the recipe from NB, there was one for Stollen made with sour cherries in the paper at the weekend.

We were given a jar of Cherries in Kirsch a while back that's just begging to be used. I shall have a go at that now I know we won't have to eat it straight away (mmm, maybe I should make 2, so we have the best of both worlds ).

[Nature's Babe]

Colin using cherries in kirsch would be fine to eat soon, but dried cherries might be be better if you want it to keep for a while

[Primrose]

Oh ignorant me! I thought there was only one type of marzipan - the type you buy in blocks from supermarkets, which I love to eat on its own, let alone use for topping cakes & using in stollen. How does the marzipan paste come? I'm not sure I've ever seen any.

I'm sure your stollen will keep fresh if firmly wrapped in foil. We've kept one in the freezer before now wrapped in foil and it's been fine several weeks after Christmas.

[Colin_M]

dried cherries might be be better if you want it to keep for a while

Stollen doesn't stand much chance of surviving in our house! As a child, I never liked the standard whit sugar icing and spent most of the time chipping it off in the hope of finding a marzipan layer below.

More recently, I discovered panforte, which I find less sickly than standard fruit/christmas cake. For me, stollen is almost an ideal happy medium between the two.

[lizzie]

Here's the link for the recipe

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/596501

I hate marzipan. It's one of the few things that I just cant stand. But my old mum loves it and she's very partial to stollen. Plus, I thought it would be a nice addition to her annual sticky toffee pudding, and James Martins receipe for said toffee pud is the very best that I have ever tasted. It isnt for the dieters/health concious amongst us, but bugger that. It's gorgeous and I make one for the fantastic Grockie and her family too. Got her a nice other surprise too

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Lizzie, is the other surprise a tub of de-scaler?

[Monika]

Lizzie, you can still have stollen without marzipan, in fact my mother who came from Dresden where stollen is supposed to have originated, never used marzipan in her recipe. The yeast dough was made at home and mixed with chopped candied fruit and sultanas which had been soaked in rum overnight. When the stollen loaves were formed, we used to take them to the baker round the corner who baked them in his bread oven (my mother said domestic ovens were not hot enough for them). We collected them out of the baker's oven, rushed them home and poured a mixture of unsalted butter and sugar over the hot loaves. This then set and made a lovely crisp and sweet crust on top. Delish .....

And, yes, certainly our stollens used to last well into the new year.

[lizzie]

Thanks for the help everyone. I am making them this afternoon so will tell you how they worked out and see if I can take a photo of them.

[lizzie]

OMG. That James Martin receipe is just epic. The mixture says it makes one Stollen but I got 2 out of it. It tastes absolutely fantastic. Cant take pic cos cant find camera. My old Mum will be well chuffed when she gets these

[Primrose]

One thing I've learnt about marzipan - i.e. that you can cook it. That never occurred to me, and until my husband made a Stollen/Tea bread recently with marzipan in it, I would have thought that a high temperature would have changed its texture in some way, it doesn't seem to do.

Mind you, I prefer the short cut - just hacking a slice off the marzipan block and popping it into my mouth. So much cheaper than all those fancily decorated marzipan fruits which are sold at this time of year!

[Johnboy]

Hi Lizzie,
Do you know the only, and I mean the only, thing culinary I detest with a vengeance is Marzipan. With Christmas Cake I always take the Marzipan and Icing off the cake and have grandchildren fighting over it!
The very thought of it turns my stomach.
The strange thing is that I simply adore Almonds. Same meat different gravy I suppose.
JB.

[peter]

Almond Croissants. Mmmmmmm.

[lizzie]

JB, I am exactly the same. Adore almonds, hate marzipan. Cant stand the stuff. When I was a little ankle biter, my old mum would make a Christmas cake every year (my mum is a fantastic cook) and, cos she loved marzipan, there would be a thick layer of the stuff all over it. And I remember my Dad would always bring her home those marzipan fruits, marzipan in chocolate. Anything with marzipan lol And mum new full well none of us would pinch one cos we all hated the stuff hahahahahaha