This Christmas bun is a new favorite

Fruit marinated in cognac flavor the Christmas bun. Rosa Bröijer

This Christmas bun has a surprise inside.

The German Christmas bun, or stollen, is like an English fruit cake. Dry fruits and nuts are mixed into the dough. This bun doesn’t mind letting it season in peace for several days.

Stollen has begun to appear more and more in the selections of cafes and restaurants as well. For example, at the dessert table of the small Christmas dinner at the Seurahuone Ballroom in Helsinki, stollen was offered, among other things.

Christmas stollen

Bun dough:

2.5 dl whole milk

25 g of yeast

0.5 tbsp ground cardamom

1 dl sugar

0.5 tsp of salt

1 egg

7–8 dl wheat flour

125 g soft butter

300 g of almond paste

Fruit mix:

1 dl raisins

100 g (1 box) orange peel

100 g nut mixture (any nut mixture or nuts are suitable for this)

100 g red cherries

0.5 dl cognac or rum

For lubrication:

1 egg

almond chips

powdered sugar

1. Measure the dried fruits into a bowl and pour alcohol over them. Mix and leave to season at room temperature for 1–2 hours.

2. Heat the milk for the bun dough until hand-warm. Add crumbled yeast, cardamom, sugar and salt. Add the egg and mix until smooth.

3. Add some of the flour and start making the dough elastic. Add the butter, the rest of the flour, the picked almond mass, nuts and fruit. Knead until the dough is elastic. Remember that a bun with too much flour is hard.

4. Cover the dough and let it double in size for about an hour. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for a while. Place the dough in a greased, rectangular loaf pan and let rise covered with a cloth for 15 minutes.

5. Brush the surface with egg and sprinkle almond flakes on top.

6. Bake on the middle shelf of a 200-degree oven for 25–35 minutes. Allow to cool before removing from pan.

7. Sift powdered sugar on top before serving.