Stollen Three Ways

So how many of you made a Christmas cake at the end of last year? Hands up...? Well, I do one every year and every January I end up with leftover glace cherries, mixed peel and a half a pack (about 250g) of marzipan unused. So I decided rather than have it sit there for a couple of months and then throw it out - I would make something. I made Stollen Bites which were, I have to say, lovely. Perfect with a cup of tea. (Recipe at bottom of page)

But it didn't end there. The thing is - they are made with yeast - basically like a bread dough. Which is all very well, but as we all know, homemade bread lasts a day or two at best. So we scoffed what we wanted and I was left with a dozen delicious, but now getting stale, stolen bites. What now? I hate waste...although the worms in the wormery would have made short work of it! I needed to make them moist again. So I sliced them up and poured on a custard. Not too sweet a custard, as the marzipan in the stollen is already quite sweet. Baked for 35 minutes and I got a piping hot Stollen Bread & Butter Pudding:

Perfect to have with custard for any bread and butter pudding fans. But then, we rarely get round to eating desserts in this house, so I needed it a bit more 'grab and go'.

So I sliced them into squares as a more bite sized version and ended up with these. Moist, chewy, fruity, nutty, marzipan filled sticky yumminess. I don't think I'll have many leftovers of these!

Stollen Bites Recipe:

Ingredients:     (Makes 24)

180g mix of raisins & sultanas
50g glace cherries
25g mixed peel
50g almonds, roughly chopped
2 lemons, zest only
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla essence
2 tbsp. brandy
200g marzipan
375g strong white bread flour
7g pack of dried yeast
50g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
70g butter, melted
150ml milk, warmed
icing sugar, for dusting

 

Method:

 

Put the raisins, sultanas, cherries, mixed peel, almonds, lemon zest, nutmeg, vanilla extract and brandy together in a bowl and mix well. Cover with clingfilm and set aside.

 

Put the flour, yeast and sugar in a bowl. Mix in 50g of the butter and the beaten egg and combine to make a dough. Add a tbsp. milk if the dough too dry. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until smooth. Put into a lightly oiled bowl and leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour.

 

Put the dough back onto a lightly floured surface and work the fruit mix into the dough until well incorporated. Leave to one side for 15 minutes.

 

Cut the marzipan into six pieces and roll into a 4 inch long log shape. Cut the dough into six pieces, and on a floured board roll into rectangles 4 inches wide and wrap the dough around the marzipan log, sealing with a little milk. Put the mini stollen loaves (seam side down) on a baking sheet and leave for 30 minutes to rise again, setting the oven to 180 C towards the end of that time.. Brush the mini stollen loaves with a little milk and pop into the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden.

 

Remove from the oven and brush with the remaining melted butter and liberally dust with icing sugar. Leave to cool for 10 minutes and cut each 'loaf' into 4 pieces - you should have 24 pieces.