Christmas preparations start early. A month before the celebration, it's time to “put on” special Christmas muffins, rich pastries rich in dried fruits and saturated with alcohol. In Germany, the traditional Christmas cake is the adit or gingerbread.
Stollen - a cake made from yeast dough with dried fruits and alcohol. Its recipe dates back to the 15th century. On a traditional Christmas table, such a rug symbolized the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes, so the rug is either wrapped in marzipan or thickly covered with powdered sugar. To make stollen, the day before you start baking, take:
- 5 cups of raisins;
- 5 tablespoons of vanilla sugar;
- 16 tablespoons of rum;
- 4 ½ cups of butter;
- 3 ½ cups peeled sweet almonds;
- ¾ glass of bitter almonds;
- 1 ½ cups of candied lemon;
- ½ cup of candied orange fruits.
Wash the raisins in hot water several times, pat dry with a paper kitchen towel. Mix with vanilla sugar and rum, add all other ingredients and leave in a bowl covered with cling film at room temperature for 10-12 hours. The next day, prepare:
- 2 ½ kilograms of wheat flour;
- 1 glass of "live" yeast;
- 1 ½ cups of sugar;
- 4 glasses of milk;
- 2 lemons.
Mix yeast and 3 teaspoons of sugar, sugar with warm milk, the temperature should be at least 27, but not more than 32 ° C). Let the mixture bubble. Sift the flour into a deep bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the diluted yeast. Knead the dough, cover with a clean linen towel and let the dough rise.
Add the remaining sugar, zest and juice from two lemons to the risen dough and knead the dough again, it should come out smooth and not sticky. When the dough begins to lag behind the edges of the bowl, it's time to stop kneading. Add dried fruits with butter, stir so that they are evenly distributed, cover the bowl with the dough with a towel and remove for 2-3 hours in a warm place, then knead again and let "rest" again, but no more than 30-40 minutes.
Form 4-5 small pieces of dough and bake on a baking sheet lined with baking paper in an oven preheated to 175 ° C for 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours. The finished adit is of a pleasant golden color. Let the Christmas muffins cool, wrap in foil and store in a cool place. Unwrap once a week to inject about 1 tablespoon of rum into each stollen with a syringe. Before serving, brush the gingerbread with melted butter and sprinkle heavily with powdered sugar or wrap in crisp white marzipan.
It is nice to give Christmas cupcakes to friends and acquaintances, if you want to cook stollen just for yourself, reduce the amount of ingredients by 2-3 times. It is advisable to cook the shtollen in advance, but not necessary, you can bake it on the eve of the holiday and not additionally saturate it with alcohol.
