German Stollen have been around for nearly 700 years and are prized throughout the world as one of the most famous and beloved of all Christmas pastries.  Your search for the BEST authentic German Stollen recipe has ended: Flaky, moist, and divinely flavorful, these homemade German Christmas Stollen are INCREDIBLE!
Sweet cakes and breads studded with candied fruits and nuts are hallmarks of Christmas baking in many areas of the world. Examples include fruitcake which is traditional throughout the English speaking nations, panettone in Italy, keks in Poland, julekake in Norway, bolo-rei in Portugal and birnenbrot in Switzerland. But perhaps none are revered as highly throughout the world as German Stollen.
I grew up in southern Germany and celebrating the Christmas season without homemade Stollen was simply unthinkable.
Christmas stollen, known in Germany as Christstollen, is a yeast bread that is baked with dried fruits, candied citrus peel, nuts and spices. Variations include Mandelstollen (almond), Mohnstollen (poppy seed), Quarkstollen (quark), Nuss-Stollen (nuts), Butterstollen (high butter content), Dresdner Stollen and Marzipanstollen.
Stollen are famously dusted with a thick coat of powdered sugar, reminiscent of the snowy German landscape, and baked with spices conveying the warmth of the Christmas season.
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A History of Stollen
The first and most famous variety of stollen is the Dresdner Christstollen. Some historians date its origin back to 1329 and over the centuries the stollen was refined to become what it is today. And it has come a long way indeed because up until 1650 the stollen was a bland, hard pastry as the use of butter and milk was forbidden during Lent by the Catholic church. It was in this year that Prince Ernst von Sachsen, at the request of the bakers of Dresden, petitioned the pope to lift the butter ban. The request was denied and then, five popes later, the ban was finally lifted in 1490 via the pope’s famous Butterbrief, “butter letter.”
From that point the stollen gradually developed into an enjoyable sweet bread incorporating additional ingredients and it become an important symbol of the region. King August II in 1730 commissioned the bakers of Dresden to bake a gigantic stollen in celebration of the strength of the Saxon military, an event to which he invited the dignitaries of Europe in the hope of building allies. The stollen weighed 1.8 tons (that’s 3600 pounds!), was 27 feet long and 18 feet wide and a special oven was designed and built just for this purpose. It took a convoy of eight horses to transport the stollen to the king’s table and a 26 pound and 5 1/4 foot-long knife was used to cut it.
Germany’s first Christmas market was held in Dresden in 1434. This market, the Dresdner Striezelmarkt, continues to be held every year. Also held annually on the Saturday prior to the 2nd Advent is the Dresdner Stollenfest featuring Germany’s largest Christstollen. So far 2013 holds the record for the largest Stollen weighing nearly 9400 pounds! Each year a horse-drawn carriage parades the giant stollen through the streets and on to the Christmas market. Per tradition, a replica of the original 5-foot long knife is used to slice the stollen. The mayor of the city tastes the first piece and the stollen is then cut into thousands of pieces that are sold with the proceeds going to charity.
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The Symbolism of Stollen
The word “stollen” refers to a post or boundary stone for a city. It is also thought it could refer to the entrance of a mine shaft. Some historians believe that the stollen’s characteristic shape was molded after the shape of a mine tunnel, reflective of the silver and tin mining industries of the time. But there is also religious symbolism behind the stollen with the loaf, or bread, being symbolic of the body of Christ. Specifically, being dusted with powdered sugar, it is symbolic of the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes. Thus it is traditionally called Christstollen, or Christ Stollen.
Our German Christmas Stollen Recipe
I’m sharing with you my recipe for Stollen which is thoroughly authentic in its method and ingredients. It features dried fruits, candied lemon peel, nuts and marzipan (which you can omit if you choose). I LOVE the addition of marzipan and it’s one of the most popular varieties of Stollen. Don’t worry about having to go out and buy some, it is unbelievably quick and easy to make your own (seriously, it takes about 5 minutes).
Check out our recipe for Easy Homemade Marzipan!
Happy Stock Photo/Shutterstock.com
A Word About Store-Bought Candied Citrus Peel (do you hate it as much as I do?)
I have to tell you, I absolutely detest store-bought candied citrus peel. And most people I speak to feel the same. It has a bizarre chemical flavor no matter the brand. For that reason I’ve never been a fan of fruitcakes in general. BUT using your own homemade candied citrus peel is a 100% deal changer.Â
While you can use store-bought candied citrus peel if you insist, I VERY, VERY STRONGLY recommend making your own. Please, trust me on this: Using homemade candied citrus peel is the difference between night and day when it comes to flavor! It is vastly superior in every way and will make your Stollen taste incredible! And the good news is it can be made far, far in advance. In fact, I freeze mine so it lasts basically forever and I take out what I need as needed.
Check out our recipe for Candied Orange Peel!
For anyone who may be feeling a little intimidated at the thought of making Stollen, don’t be. If you can make a cake or a loaf of bread, you can make Stollen. But while it’s easy to make, it’s not quick to make. There’s a waiting game involved both during the baking process and the aging process. In the baking process the Stollen dough has to rise a couple of times just like in making yeast bread. Then it has to bake for a while. And then there’s the waiting process. Typically the Stollen is tightly wrapped and kept in a cool place to age for 2-3 weeks before eating. This allows the liquid from the rum-soaked dried fruits to soak into the bread creating both flavor and moistness.
NOW, while letting Stollen age will allow the flavors to fully penetrate the bread, our Stollen is absolutely AMAZING straight out of the oven! So the question of to wait or not to wait we’ll leave up to you.
Fun trivia: Fruitcakes that contain a lot of alcohol can remain edible for years. Yes, years. For example, the Antarctic Heritage Trust discovered a 106-year-old fruitcake last year and after sampling it (the brave souls) they said it was not only in “excellent condition” for its age but was even “almost” edible! Another fruitcake baked in 1878 in Michigan was kept as a family heirloom and sampled for the first time in 2003 by Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.  It’s amazing what an incredible preservative alcohol is. So in other words, as long as you keep your Stollen tightly wrapped and in a cool place, letting it age for 2 weeks is, like, nothing.
Lastly, if you’ve never been a huge fan of store-bought Stollen you’re not alone. I’ve never cared for them either. But homemade…that’s an entirely different story.
Your search for the best Stollen recipe has ended:Â Flaky, moist, and divinely flavorful, these homemade German Christmas Stollen are INCREDIBLE!
Authentic German Stollen Recipe
Let’s get started!
Place the raisins, candied citrus peel and almonds in a medium bowl and pour the rum over it. Stir to combine. Set aside and let the fruit mixture soak in the rum while the dough rises.
Stir the yeast and 2 tablespoons of the sugar into the lukewarm milk and let sit in a warm place for 10-15 minutes until very frothy.
Place the flour, remaining sugar, egg, egg yolks, butter, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt, cardamom, mace and cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast/milk mixture.
Use a spoon to stir the mixture until it comes together. Knead the dough on the bread setting and once the dough comes together continue to knead for 7 minutes.
Remove the dough ball, lightly spray the bowl with a little oil, return the dough ball, cover loosely with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place or lightly warmed oven (just barely warm), to rise until nearly doubled in size, at least 1 hour.
Punch down the dough and add the soaked fruit/nut mixture to the dough (it should have absorbed all the rum by now but if there is excess liquid, pour it out before adding the mixture to the dough).
Using the dough hook, knead the fruit/nut mixture into the dough until combined. If the dough is too wet to handle, add a little bit of flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface.
Cut the dough in two equal halves. Press or roll each piece into an oval to about 1 inch thickness. Roll each piece of marzipan into a log the length of the oval. Press the marzipan gently into the middle of the dough.
Fold the left side of the dough over to cover the marzipan, then fold right side over on top of the left side so that the edge of it sits just left of the middle of the stollen. In other words, don’t fold the right side all the way over to the left edge of the stollen.
Pinch and tuck the top and bottom ends of the stollen to cover the marzipan.
Use the bottom edge of your hand to press down along the length of the stollen towards the right of the center to create a divot and characteristic hump.
Place the stollen on a lined baking sheet. Cover the stollen loosely with plastic wrap and let them rest in a warm place or lightly warmed oven for 40-60 minutes until puffy.
At this point you can pick off any raisins that are sticking out of the dough (they will burn during baking).
Towards the end of the last rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the stollen for 30-40 minutes or until golden. You can use an instant read thermometer to aim for an internal temperature of 190 degrees F.
Let them sit for 5 minutes, then use a toothpick to poke holes all over the stollen. This will allow the melted butter to seep in.
Generously brush the stollen with the melted butter while the stollen are still warm.
Immediately sprinkle with a generous amount of powdered sugar, rubbing it into the creases and down the sides. Let the stollen cool completely.
The stollen can be sliced and eaten now or wrapped tightly (I like to wrap in plastic wrap then foil) and left to “ripen” in a cool place for 2 weeks. The liquid from the dried fruits will further penetrate the dough for more flavor and moisture.
Stollen can also be frozen for longer storage.
For eating, I like to warm the slices up for a few seconds in the microwave, it makes the crumb nice and soft.
Slice and enjoy!
For more delicious German goodies, be sure to try our:
- Pfeffernüsse (German Iced Spiced Cookies)
- Lebkuchen (Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen)
- Springerle
- Printen (Aachener Gingerbread)
- Speculoos (Gingerbread Shortcrust Cookies)
- Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescent Cookies)
- Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Star Cookies)
- Bethmännchen (Marzipan Cookies)
- Heidesand (Browned Butter Shortbread Cookies)
PIN ME!
BEST Authentic Stollen (German Christmas Bread)
Ingredients
- For the Dough:
- 1 cup lukewarm whole milk
- 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 cups all-purpose flour ***NOTE: Amount will vary depending on how much liquid is in your fruit/nut mixture. Be sure to drain any excess liquid. Add more flour as needed if dough is too wet.
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks) , at room temperature so it's very soft
- 2 teaspoons quality pure vanilla extract
- zest of one lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 3/4 teaspoon ground mace (recommended but can substitute nutmeg)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 8 ounces Homemade Marzipan/Almond Paste , divided in half (you can omit the marzipan if you prefer)
- or store-bought marzipan/almond paste
- For the Fruits & Nuts:
- 9 ounces raisins
- 3 ounces candied lemon peel , finely diced
- 3 ounces candied orange peel , finely diced
- Homemade Candied Citrus Peel Recipe (we VERY STRONGLY recommend using homemade, it makes ALL the difference!)
- 3 ounces blanched slivered or sliced almonds , finely chopped
- 1/3 cup quality dark rum
- For the Glaze & Dusting:
- 1 stick unsalted butter , melted
- powdered sugar for generous dusting
Instructions
- Place the raisins, candied citrus peel and almonds in a medium bowl and pour the rum over it. Stir to combine. Set aside and let the fruit mixture soak in the rum while the dough rises.
- Stir the yeast and 2 tablespoons of the sugar into the lukewarm milk and let sit in a warm place for 10-15 minutes until very frothy.
- Place the flour, remaining sugar, egg, egg yolks, butter, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt, cardamom, mace and cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast/milk mixture. Use a spoon to stir the mixture until it comes together. Knead the dough on the bread setting for 7-8 minutes. Remove the dough ball, lightly spray the bowl with a little oil, return the dough ball, cover loosely with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place or lightly warmed oven (just barely warm), to rise until nearly doubled in size, at least 1 hour (likely closer to 2 hours depending on the temperature of the environment).
- Punch down the dough and add the soaked fruit/nut mixture to the dough (it should have absorbed all the rum by now but if there is excess liquid, pour it out before adding the mixture to the dough). Using the dough hook, knead the fruit/nut mixture into the dough until combined. If the dough is too wet to handle, add a little bit of flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and cut it in two equal halves. Press or roll each piece into an oval to about 1 inch thickness. Roll each piece of marzipan into a log the length of the oval. Press the marzipan gently into the middle of the dough. Fold the left side of the dough over to cover the marzipan, then fold right side over on top of the left side so that the edge of it sits just left of the middle of the stollen (see pics). In other words, don't fold the right side all the way over to the left edge of the stollen. Pinch and tuck the top and bottom ends of the stollen to cover the marzipan. Use the bottom edge of your hand to press down along the length of the stollen towards the right of the center to create a divot and characteristic hump (see pics). Place the stollen on a lined baking sheet. Cover the stollen loosely with plastic wrap and let them rest in a warm place or lightly warmed oven for 40-60 minutes until puffy. At that point you can pick off any raisins that are sticking out of the dough (they will burn during baking).
- Towards the end of the last rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the stollen for 30-40 minutes or until golden. You can use an instant read thermometer to aim for an internal temperature of 190 degrees F. Let the Stollen sit for 5 minutes, then use a toothpick to poke holes all over the stollen (this will allow the butter to seep in), then generously brush the stollen with the melted butter while the stollen are still warm. Immediately sprinkle with a generous amount of powdered sugar, rubbing it into the creases and down the sides. Let the stollen cool completely.  You may want to give it another dusting of powdered sugar once cooled.
- The stollen can be sliced and eaten now or wrapped tightly (wrap in plastic wrap then foil) and left to "ripen" in a cool place for 2 weeks. The liquid from the dried fruits will further penetrate the dough for more flavor and moisture. Stollen can also be frozen for longer storage.
- Makes 2 large or 3 medium Stollen.For eating, I like to warm the slices up for a few seconds in the microwave, it makes the crumb nice and soft.
Nutrition
Ana says
I don’t have a mixer/hook, can I still make it?
Kimberly Killebrew says
Hi Ana, yes you can knead it by hand, just be sure to knead it very thoroughly.
Meg says
Can you make the stollen dough ahead of time?
Ruth says
Almond paste in a box? In a tube? Which one to use? The boxed says to put in a food processor to grind? Never used either before so thank you!
Kimberly Killebrew says
Hi Ruth, the terms almond paste and marzipan can be confusing when it comes to store-bought. You’re looking for something that comes in a block, a malleable “dough” texture that you can roll into a log to place inside the Stollen dough. Worst case you can also use the soft almond paste in the tube and squirt it along inside the Stollen loaf.
Lesley Porter says
Excellent recipe and directions. I made this Stollen and it is delish. I even made the Marzipan for it. Great recipe. Now I know how it will be done again for Easter.
Kimberly Killebrew says
Fantastic, Lesley, thank you so much!
baking123 says
This is outstanding stollen. I spent hours researching and chose this one. My first attempt had a few mistakes but it was still delicious enough to give as a gift. The 2nd attempt is perfect. I did not use marzipan. I added what turned out to be almost a whole extra cup of flour to the 2nd batch because the first was too wet. I hand kneaded the first batch and it was not nearly enough kneading. The 2nd batch with the extra flour and kneaded with a mixer was textbook. Thank you!
Pat says
Hi I’m making this today. I weighed out the flour in grams and checked it using my measuring cups. 520 go give me excess of 5 cups. Should I follow the metric recipe? Also don’t hv unsalted butter so I’m using salted but omitting the salt. Hope that’s ok.
Rebecca Randen says
I made two stollen and picked one up to butter and coat it in powdered sugar. It cracked in the middle, but I pushed it together before wrapping it tightly – is this okay, or will this loaf be dry? Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Luis says
Hi, just wanted to say thanks for posting your recipe. I made it today and it’s awesome!!! I can have better than store bought stollen all year long. Thanks!
Kimberly Killebrew says
Awesome, Luis, thank you so much!
Christina says
I love this recipe. Taking the extra time to make the candied citrus peel is really worth it for the flavour. I have found that making the peel 2ish weeks before baking gives the best flavour. I also saved the sugar crystals and blended it, then added it into the sugar measurement. It is so yummy with extra citrus flavour. This time I am subbing some of the raisins with dates and figs; and the rum with brandy. Looking forward to the new flavour combination.
Kimberly Killebrew says
Thank you so much, Christina! I’m sure your new variation will be thoroughly delicious – happy baking! :)
Jeff says
Great recipe! Just a heads up – when you press the “2x” or “3x” button to scale the recipe, it scales the ingredients fine, but it will still say ” cut it in two equal halves” in step 5. can be confusing…
Joanna says
Was this photo taken after 2-weeks rest? I want to bake stollen a week before Christmas and I’m wondering whether it will be moist or dry after one week of resting?
Kimberly Killebrew says
Hi Joanna, these photos were taken within a day or two after baking. Properly wrapped and stored the Stollen will not become drier after a week or more of storing.
Michelle Halford says
I made this recipe two years ago and it was fantastic. This year I used old peel and nuts…. Horrible, just horrible! Remade today with fresh ingredients… made all the difference. Fantastic stollen! Learned my lesson, only good fresh nuts, peel and good rum.
Kimberly Killebrew says
Fantastic, Michelle, thank you so much for the feedback!
Alex says
I’m making the candied citrus, and in reviewing the recipe note that it suggests 3 oz each of candied lemon and orange + homemade candied citrus (with no amount stated). Do you use commercial and homemade, or if you’re making your own – a total of six ounces ? I’m sure it would make sense when I put it all together but some clarification would be nice. Thank you! I’m sure it’s going to be amazing.
Kimberly Killebrew says
Hi Alex, it’s not “+” homemade, it’s one or the other. I simply provide the option to make your own if you so choose (which of course I highly recommend :)
Sophia Zervas says
Does anything need to be altered when baking at high altitude? Thanks!
Kimberly Killebrew says
Hi Sophia, yes, you’ll need to make the same changes for high altitude for this Stollen as you do for your other baking.
undru says
hi thanks for recipe i cant find candied peels can i use fresh lemon and orange peels with out boiling of water pls sen me reply
Kimberly Killebrew says
Hi Undru, you can add some lemon and orange zest which will add a nice flavor but it of course won’t taste the same. I highly recommend making your own candied peels.