Anja Dunk’s Stollen Bites

I’m so happy to be sharing this amazing recipe from my friend Anja’s treat of a book, Advent.

Advent is an edible countdown in 24 chapters inspired by the idea of traditional paper advent calendars, where you open up a window to reveal an image of winter on the 24 days leading up to Christmas. It is a real gem that I know will be used for very many Christmases to come in my house.

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Stollenkonfekt is something that has become popular during my lifetime. It’s basically mini bite-sized versions of the real thing. I like to make these moreish buttery confections with Quark and baking powder for ease, but these would also work with yeasted dough.

If you are new to the idea of Stollen, these might well be the best place for you to start.

MAKES ABOUT 35–40

100g (3½oz) raisins
30g (1oz) mixed peel
1 tbsp dark rum or brandy
300g (2¼ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
50g (¹⁄₃ cup) cornflour (cornstarch)
75g (¹⁄₃ cup plus 1 tbsp) caster (superfine) sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
¹⁄₈ tsp grated nutmeg
Finely grated zest of
1 lemon
1 egg
120g (½ cup plus 2 tsp) unsalted butter, at room temp
200g (1 cup minus1 tbsp) Quark
1 tsp vanilla extract

to coat
220g (1½ cups) icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted
130g (½ cup plus 1 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted

Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with nonstick baking parchment.

Put the raisins and mixed peel into a bowl, pour over the rum and set aside to infuse while you make the dough. Put the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir everything together until evenly combined. Crack in the egg, add the butter, Quark and dried fruit with the rum, as well as the vanilla extract. Mix everything together with your hands until a very soft, sticky dough is formed. Leave to one side for 10 minutes to enable the bicarbonate of soda to work its magic, then pinch off small, walnut-sized pieces and form them into little pillow shapes.

Place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2cm/¾in between each, and bake in the centre of the oven for 22–25 minutes until golden brown all over, turning the sheet around once halfway through to ensure an even bake.

While they are baking, place the sifted icing sugar in a large shallow dish. Using a pastry brush, glaze each Stollenkonfekt with the melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven, then roll them around in the icing sugar (one at a time) until thickly coated. Place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cool and ready to serve, dust with more icing sugar. Stored in an airtight container, these will keep well for around a week.