Stollen (a German fruit bread for Christmas)

Hi to all!!! I am finally back and able again to post new recipes!! :-) I noticed there are just 10 more days to go until Christmas and I haven’t posted any Christmas recipes till now. So it’s about time…Stollen is a traditional German fruit bread made with nuts and dried fruits and is eaten during Christmas time. At my familys place it is eaten with tea or coffee and served mostly in afternoon. Traditionally it is made with candied orange peel and candied lemon peel, which, unfortunately I was not able to get in the US, so I substituted crystallized ginger and candied pineapple for it. Have a wonderful day..!!

Ingredients:

- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup curd/quark ( you can use drained yoghurt as well)
- 1 Tsp. lemon zest
- 1 Tsp. vanilla essence
- 3 ½ cups unbleached white flour
- 2 Tsp. baking powder
- ½ cup dried apricots, chopped
- ½ cup crystallized ginger
- ½ cup candied pineapple
- 1 cup rum raisins
- ½ cup chopped hazelnuts
- ½ cup chopped almonds
- 2 Tbsp. melted butter
- ½ cup powdered sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 F and butter a baking sheet.
In a bowl beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla essence. Combine curd and lemon zest and whisk until smooth. Stir into batter.
Combine flour with baking powder and sift over batter. Incorporate to a smooth dough. Mix all dry fruits with nuts and knead into dough. Shape into an oblong form and place onto baking sheet. Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, brush the melted butter on top and dust with powdered sugar.
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