Christmas Stollen

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 the 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 of 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
• 108 gr dried apricots

For the Glaze & Dusting:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• powdered sugar for generous dusting

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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).
4. 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.  
5. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and cut it into two 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 the 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 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).  
6. 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 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 is 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.
7. The stollen can be sliced and eaten now or wrapped tightly (wrapped 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.
8. 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 crumbs nice and soft.