The best German Stollen Recipe is this one that you can easily make at home! This flaky yeasted bread is packed with dried fruit, nuts, sweet spices and marzipan, and perfect for the holidays.
What is Stollen?
Stollen is a traditional yeast bread from Germany. Most often made for Christmas, the German word for this sweet bread is Christstollen.
Traditional German stollen will be baked filled with dried fruits, candied citrus peel, chopped nuts, and spices.
Marzipan stollen is what we’re making today, which is stollen bread with a ribbon of sweet and chewy marzipan running through each slices.
Stollen loaves are sold and enjoyed during the winter holiday season at Christmas markets in Germany and as a holiday tradition for families around the world.
You might also like to try making Pflaumenkuchen (or plum cake), which is a traditional dessert made in Germany during the summer months.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- An Authentic Recipe – I’m sharing an authentic recipe with you that includes all of the traditional ingredients and methods used to make this bread. I’ll also share tips that you can use if you’re unable to find certain ingredients. Luckily, anything that you can’t find at the store can likely be ordered online.
- Marzipan – This is my favorite part of the stollen recipe! A sweet and creamy bit of this almond dough is in every single slice.
- Easy to Make Ahead – You can prepare stollen up to 2 weeks in advance, and the flavor will actually get even better as it ages.
Key Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this German stollen bread:
- Dried Fruit: You can use any combination of the following: Raisins, currants, and candied citrus peel. Look for these in your supermarket during the holiday season, I often find the candied peel in the produce section or near the baking ingredients.
- Rum: The traditional method of making stollen involves soaking the dried fruits in rum to make them plump, juicy, and tasty! If you’d prefer to avoid alcohol in this recipe, you can use apple or orange juice instead.
- Almonds: Chopped blanched almonds are traditional in stollen. You can also replace them with walnuts or pecans.
- Marzipan: White or golden marzipan can be used to fill the stollen with sweet, chewy goodness. Marzipan is a dough made primarily of sugar and almond meal. Like the candied peel, you’re most likely to find this in U.S. grocery stores during the holiday season (sometimes called “almond candy dough”), or you may want to order it online. If you’re especially ambitious, both marzipan and candied orange peel can also be made from scratch.
- Yeast: Active dry yeast gives this sweet bread the perfect amount of rise. You only need half of a standard packet for this stollen recipe.
- Spices: Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Mace are the perfect German Christmas spices. Mace comes from the outer covering of the nutmeg seed and adds a very specific flavor. If you can’t find it, use nutmeg instead.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How To Make Marzipan Stollen
- Soak the Fruits: To make the dried fruits plump and juicy, place them in a bowl and cover them with rum or juice. Allow the fruits to soak for at least two hours, or overnight. Drain and set aside.
- Mix the Dough: In the bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in warm milk with a bit of sugar and ½ cup of flour. Let it stand until it’s frothy. Then add the egg, vanilla, remaining sugar, softened butter, salt, cardamom, mace, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Knead until the dough is smooth (about 8 minutes in the mixer with the dough hook).
- First Rise: Place the kneaded stollen dough into a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until the dough is puffed up (It won’t double in size like some bread recipes, but it will grow a bit). This should take about an hour.
- Add the Fruit and Nuts: Knead the soaked and drained fruits and almonds into the dough by hand or with your stand mixer. You may need to add a bit of flour if the dough becomes sticky from the added moisture.
- Roll the Dough: Roll out the stollen dough to create a 6×8-inch rectangle.
- Add the Marzipan: Roll the marzipan into a 7-inch long log and place it, longways, in the center of the dough. Fold the dough around the marzipan and press to seal.
- Second Rise: Place the shaped loaf on a baking sheet. Cover and let rise for about 45 minutes.
- Bake: While the bread is rising, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Bake the stollen for 35-40 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the bread (not the marzipan) is 190°F (88°C).
- Brush with Butter: While the bread is still warm, poke it all over with a toothpick to create at least 50 holes. Brush it generously with melted butter, then dust the buttered stollen with powdered sugar.
Tip!
Go heavy on the powdered sugar coating so that the entire top of the loaf is completely covered! You can also add more sugar just before serving if it melts or absorbs into the bread too much.
Recipe Tips
- No Stand Mixer? This bread can be kneaded by hand as well. Take your time, and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add a bit of flour if needed to keep it from being sticky.
- Double the Recipe: Stollen makes wonderful Christmas gifts. Make a few loaves to share!
- Try it Warm: Before eating your slice of stollen, warm it in the microwave for a few seconds to make it soft and delicious.
Storing Tips
Enjoy your freshly baked stollen right away if you like, or wrap it tightly and leave it at cool room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The alcohol that you soaked the fruit in will help to preserve the bread and the fruit itself will keep it moist.
If you’ve omitted the alcohol from the recipe, you should still be able to store stollen for up to a week this way.
Similarly to fruitcake or German Lebkuchen cookies, the flavors in this dessert will develop and become more delicious with time.
Stollen can also be frozen for storage for up to 3 months.
What To Serve With Stollen
Christstollen is wonderful for the holidays, and pairs deliciously with mugs of mulled wine (gluhwein), just like you’d get at a German Christmas market! You can mull the wine in your crockpot and have it simmering. Your house will smell Christmassy all day long.
Recipe FAQs
Can I make stollen without marzipan?
Yes, you can leave the marzipan out of this recipe. Instead of wrapping the stollen dough around the marzipan, you can just roll the dough up into a cylinder before baking.
Is marzipan the same as almond paste?
These two are similar in their ingredients, but they differ in texture. Almond paste is generally thinner than marzipan, and not easily able to be rolled or formed into shape.
You can add almond paste to your stollen instead of marzipan, but note that you’ll likely need to spoon it onto the dough.
How do I make candied peel?
To make your own candied citrus peel, you can chop peels from lemons and/or oranges and cook them in a saucepan with sugar and water (for 1 cup of peels, use 1 cup sugar and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until soft. Allow the boiled peels to cool in the saucepan, then drain. You can then toss the pieces with more sugar and allow them to dry at room temperature for 1-2 days.
More Traditional Holiday Recipes
All Christmas Desserts →
Enjoy making and eating this traditional German Stollen bread for Christmas this year! Don’t forget to pin it so you can find it again next year too.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
German Stollen Recipe
Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
For the soaked fruit:
- ⅓ cup (65 g) raisins
- ⅓ cup (50 g) currants
- ½ cup (38 g) candied orange peel or lemon peel, or mixed peel
- ¼ cup (37 g) chopped almonds
- ¼ cup (60 ml) rum or orange juice, or apple juice
For the dough:
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoons (4 g) active dry yeast half a standard packet
- ½ cup (120 g) warm milk
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) (78 g) unsalted butter, softened, plus 2 tablespoons for brushing
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground mace
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 4 ounces (113 g) marzipan
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Soak the Fruits: Combine the dried fruits, candied peel, and nuts in a bowl, cover with rum or apple/orange juice. Soak for at least 2 hours or overnight, then drain.
- Dissolve yeast in warm milk with a bit of sugar and 1/2 cup flour. Let it stand until frothy. To the yeast mixture, add the egg, vanilla, remaining sugar, softened butter, salt, cardamom, mace, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Mix well. Gradually add the remaining flour to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth, about 8 minutes.
- First Rise: Place the dough in a greased, covered bowl. Let it rise until puffed (it won’t double in size), about 1 hour.
- Knead the soaked fruits and almonds into the dough. If the dough becomes too sticky from the moisture of the soaked fruit, add 1-2 tablespoons of flour and knead again (I do this in a stand mixer).
- Roll out the dough into a 6×8 inch (15×20 cm) rectangle
- Roll out the marzipan into a 7 inch (18 cm) log and place it in the center of the dough, fold, and seal.
- Second Rise: Place the shaped dough on a baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) or 160°C fan oven. Bake the Stollen for 35-40 minutes or until the internal temperature is 190°F (88°C).
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter. After baking, while the Stollen is still hot, prick it all over with a toothpick (about 50 times) and brush generously with the melted butter.
- Dust the buttered Stollen with powdered sugar.
Notes:
- No Stand Mixer? This bread can be kneaded by hand as well. Take your time, and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add a bit of flour if needed to keep it from being sticky.
- Double the Recipe: Stollen makes wonderful Christmas gifts. Make a few loaves to share!
- Try it Warm: Before eating your slice of stollen, warm it in the microwave for a few seconds to make it soft and delicious.
- Storage Notes: Enjoy your freshly baked stollen right away if you like, or wrap it tightly and leave it at cool room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The alcohol that you soaked the fruit in will help to preserve the bread and the fruit itself will keep it moist. If you’ve omitted the alcohol from the recipe, you should still be able to store stollen for up to a week this way.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
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