holiday stollen – day one

This last weekend, I embarked on a holiday cooking adventure — I started a six-day project (seven-day if you count the day I bought the ingredients) baking a holiday treat that my mom would not make for me because it was too much of a pain.  This is holiday stollen, a dense, German fruitcake flavored with cardamom, rum, and lots of dried fruit and slivered almonds.

I’d never had a fruit cake I liked until this. Two years ago I saw it featured in the New York Times and knew I wanted to try it. My mom usually takes requests for her holiday baking, and my sister, brother and I each get to choose a treat for her to make. Michael, before his tastes matured, used to request the slice-and-bake Pillsbury sugar cookies. Now he requests peanut butter cookies filled with a mini peanut butter cup. Kristen chooses peanut clusters (right?). That year I chose the stollen. My mom agreed to make it, not realizing what a pain it would be at the time. It was delicious, but I didn’t really appreciate it and all of its complexity. Since then I’ve been baking significantly more and now realize the time and work (and love) my mom put into that holiday bread – just for me.

This year – I found myself craving stollen, so I asked my mom to make it. She said, “Hell no,” or something akin to that. I decided to embark on the culinary adventure myself.

So – in the next several days, I’m going to post pieces of the recipe. In six days, you will have the whole thing. And stay tuned, because I ended up averting what could have been a disaster last weekend.

For those of you that can’t wait 6 days, here’s a link to the original New York Times article. Melissa Clark, one of my favorite recipe-authors, wrote the article and adapted the recipe, so you know it’s going to be good, if you have the patience.

Day One: “Holiday Stollen” by Melissa Clark

For planning purposes, I’m posting all of the ingredients here. For those of you in Louisville, you can find find all of the nuts, dried fruit, vanilla beans, and candied ginger (as well as any of the spices and flours you might need), at Nuts n Stuff.

2/3 c. black raisins

2/3 c. golden raisins

1/2 c. dried cherries

1/3 c. dark rum

1 c. slivered almonds, lightly toasted

1 package active dry yeast (1/4 ounce)

1/2 c. milk, at room temperature

4 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. plus 3 T. sugar

2 3/4 t. ground ginger

1 t. kosher salt

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 t. ground cardamom

1 t. freshly grated nutmeg

1 t. freshly grated lemon zest

1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and reserved

2 c. (4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, divided

1 large egg yolk

1/2 c. chopped candied ginger

1/2 c. mixed candied citrus peel (optional, you could omit this and use one cup of the candied ginger)

2 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

The day before baking, make sure you have all of your ingredients. And pick a day for baking that you have at least 6 hours to spare.

The night before, mix raisins, cherries and rum in a small container. Mix almonds with 1/4 cup water in another container. Cover both and let sit overnight at room temperature.

That’s it! Now get some rest, you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.

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