Marzipan-Stollen (with Milk Roux and Preferment)

I really, really, really love making Stollen. I have many fond memories of doing it with my mother following an old recipe from my grandmother, soaking the raisins and proofing the dough, rolling out the marzipan for the centre and brushing it with butter when it was done. It was a sure sign that Christmas was on the way- Stollen is to be made weeks before, at least three to four, but for us it was usually early or mid-November when we started to give it optimal time to age. Even though there's over a month to the holidays, the fact that there's a stollen in the pantry wrapped up and ready meant the promise of Christmas right around the corner.

The unbaked Stollen, ready to go.

There are many recipes for Stollen, and none are right or wrong- though for my family, the ultimate stollen has got to be a buttery yeast dough full of raisins, currants, citrus peel and almonds, and the marzipan core is a must. I plan to make another batch closer to Christmas with a baking powder-egg-quark dough that's nothing like what we usually have, but there's got to be something traditional there, too- it's Christmas, after all.

Powdered up and ready to lie in wait until Christmas...

While this isn't my Oma's recipe, I think this is an improvement- more butter and less sugar in the dough, with copious amounts of fruit and nuts and lots of different spices. There's a roux in the dough to keep it soft and moist until Christmas, and of course plenty of my beloved marzipan. It's crusted thickly in two types of sugar along with the butter, and is less breadlike and more dense than what we usually have. I think it helps that we didn't use a high-gluten flour this year, instead opting for type 550/all purpose flour, and didn't overdo it with the resting times. I've seen a lot of bread-like stollen recipes, but it just doesn't seem right to me- but hey, to each their own. Stollen is a very personal business.

After baking, I always pick out the burnt nuts and fruits that get totally carbonized on top (it seems you can't avoid that) before brushing on the butter and powdering it up. Next, the loaves get wrapped in baking parchment and aluminium foil and placed in the cabinet above the range for a nice, long time. I'm always a little nervous letting them sit, although I know they've got to- then again, I've heard of fruitcakes that sit for a full year (or more) before consumption. 

And after a long wait... fantastic stollen that's moist and soft but not too much so, crusted in vanillaey sugar and complete with a marzipan centre.

Marzipan-Stollen
Adapted from Hefe und Mehr

For the Fruit and Nuts:
225 g. Mixed yellow, green and dark raisins/sultanas
75 g. Currants
100 g. Slivered/chopped almonds
70 ml. Dark spiced rum
Boiling water, to cover

Mix all and cover with just enough hot water to almost top off the fruits. Leave overnight in the refrigerator to absorb.

(NOTE: I forgot to presoak my fruits overnight, so mine only got about 3-4 hours in the rum mixture... if you want a strong rum flavour, though, go for the full 12-14 hour soak, or add a few drops of rum extracts to the fruits to boost the flavour as a quick fix. I also went a little overboard with the sultanas- but that's a matter of personal taste. The amount given is already very generous.)

For the Roux:
30 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
150 g. Milk

In a small saucepan, cook on medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until 65℃- or until it forms an almost translucent, pudding-like paste. Place in a cool bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let cool to room temperature before using.

For the Preferment:
100 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
100 g. Milk, cold
35 g. Fresh yeast

Mix all and let rise until doubled.

Final Dough:
400 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
5 g. Salt
0.5 g. Each mace, nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom (approximate with the amount on the tip of a knife!)
Half a vanilla bean, scraped
75 g. Sugar, plus one or two sachets vanilla sugar (optional)
Zest of half a lemon (optional)
250 g. Butter
50 g. Candied citron, diced
50 g. Candied orange peel, diced
150-200 g. Marzipan

Cream butter and sugar (including vanilla sugar, lemon zest and scraped-out vanilla seeds, if using). Sift together flour, spices and salt, and add to the butter mixture, along with the roux and preferment. Knead until homogeneous, keeping the dough cool. 

Let rest covered for 30 minutes. In the mean time, shape the marzipan into two long rods.

Drain the fruits and nuts and mix with the diced peels. Knead into the dough until just incorporated, and divide into two parts. Let rest covered and preheat the oven to 200℃.

Flatten each piece of dough into an oblong oval. In the centre, form a dent and place in the marzipan roll, folding the dough over it. Bake right away for 40 minutes, covering with foil if browning too quickly.

To Finish:
50 g. Melted butter
80 g. Superfine sugar
100 g. Powder sugar

Brush with melted butter and coat thickly in sugar. Dust all over with powder sugar once cool (after a few hours, or the next morning) and roll up in aluminium foil. Store in a cool, dark, dry place for at least a week before eating.

Mincemeat Fruit Mix

This is entirely my improvisation on what I thought ought to be in a mincemeat mix, and what I happened to have in the cupboard that looked like it could use a bit of livening up with rum and spices. Some citron and orange peel from Easter, various half-finished containers of raisins, some currants... the dates and cherries are new, though. I like the honey-like stickiness that date bits add to things, and I love the tartness of dried cherries (I got lucky and found unsweetened ones) in contrast to the raisins. 

The whole thing is doused in a mixture of alcohol remnants from the bottom of several mini-bottles, with the traditional rum, some brandy (it seemed right) and Grand Marnier for some extra orangey flavour. The spices are also all wild guesses on what goes into a mincemeat- I used a lot of allspice and cloves since that seems to be characteristic of mincemeat to me, but it's all a matter of preference. There's plenty of brown sugar to create a thick layer of alcohol-spice-goo and moisten everything, some lemon juice for acidity, and a bit of hazelnut oil in the place of suet just to coat all the components and add a little complexity of flavour. Later on when using the mincemeat, some extra butter or flavoured oil for further enrichment would be a good idea- I use butter-cooked apples in my mince pies, so I didn't use much fat here. The apple variant is included at the bottom, and is in my opinion better for filling pies as it tempers the intensity of the dried fruit while adding moisture.

Every once in a while I open up the container just to smell how fantastic this mincemeat is, and every time it's better than the last. It gets me excited for the prospects of my first-ever attempt at Christmas baking derived from the Anglosphere, which is kind of necessitated by the fact that I love mincemeat but the local bakery makes it the traditional non-vegetarian suet-enriched way.

I messed up the first time around with too many spices and too much alcohol- I ended up soaking half the mix in hot water to soak out some of the seasonings, then returned them to the rest of the mix to make a milder, better-balanced mincemeat. I've already changed the ingredients accordingly, but keep in mind that taking things out is a lot harder than putting them in- when in doubt, leave it out, and you can always readjust the seasonings before using later.

Mincemeat Fruit Mix
100 g. Currants
120 g. Dried tart cherries, preferably unsweetened
220 g. Yellow and/or green sultanas
220 g. Dark raisins
125 g. Candied orange peel, diced
90 g. Candied citron peel, diced
100 g. Chopped pitted dates
150 g. Brown sugar
1/4 Tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 Tsp. Cardamom
1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp. Ginger
1/2 Tsp. Allspice
1/4 Tsp. Cloves
1 TBSP Vanilla extract
2 TBSP Hazelnut oil
1/2 C. Rum, brandy and Grand Marnier- about 1/2 rum and 1/4  each of the others
1 Tsp. Lemon zest
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Mix all well and leave to marinate in a sealed container in the refrigerator for at least a month, preferably more. 

Variant with Cooked Apples

Half of above fruit mix
About 2 tart cooking apples- peeled, cored and grated
2 TBSP Sugar, preferably cane or light brown
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 TBSP Butter

Heat butter in a medium saucepan or skillet and add sugar. Add apples, and cook on medium heat until all the liquids have been released. Add lemon juice and keep cooking until most of the liquid is evaporated and the apples are soft.

Mix with the mincemeat.

Homemade Mascarpone

Mascarpone cheese is one of those "luxurious" things that I don't use frequently, mostly because it's both expensive and hard to get in good quality. Most of the ones in the supermarket taste distinctly unfresh, something that's impossible to disguise if you plan to use it raw in a dessert. It's also a bit of a waste, since it's so easy to make at home... there's really no reason not to.

The homemade version is a completely different species from the storebought variety. It's intensely creamy-tasting (as one would imagine, being almost entirely just cream) and rich, velvety and smooth. It's got a bit of tang, but other than that, is very mild in taste and accommodating to many applications both sweet and savoury. 

It only requires that you have non-ultra high temperature processed (UHT) whipping cream (I've tried it with UHT cream and it didn't go so well, though it might have been another factor confounding that result. If I had more time and money, I'd experiment more, but for now just take my word for it and use non-UHT) and a lemon. A candy thermometer (or any kind of good baking thermometer), a small pot, a strainer and a cheesecloth are all the equipment. It takes only around 15 minutes of active time, and a few hours of waiting, and you've got fantastic mascarpone.

Depending on how long you strain it for, you could end up with slightly more or less product. Thicker mascarpone is better if you want to make a cheesecake or something else firm, but if it's destined for something like a sauce or a trifle, only 4 to 6 hours of straining time is needed.

I made this batch to use in a torte, along with some of my new favourite homemade quark. Hopefully soon there'll be a sale on organic whipping cream so I can finally try making tiramisu...

Homemade Mascarpone
From Two Tarts

500 ml. Whipping cream, 35% (not UHT!)
1 TBSP Fresh lemon juice

Heat cream gently to 190℉ in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, while stirring constantly. Whisk in lemon juice and cook at 190℉ for 5 minutes, or until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Let cool for 30 minutes, then strain into a colander or strainer lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Leave the whole unit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or up to overnight, to strain.

Remove the mascarpone and store in a tight container for up to 10 days.

Ginger-Walnut-Date Granola

I'm not a granola person... at all. I love oats, and I love muesli, and those crunchy bars with the oats and nuts... but granola itself has always disappointed me in the past. It's too sweet, too bland, with not nearly enough of the mix ins, and usually too expensive. Still, the idea of sweet, crunchy clusters of flavoured oats with dried fruit and nuts is a very welcome one, so I figured that a homemade granola might be better. And indeed, it was.

This granola was probably the first that I've ever really, really liked. It's sweet and crunchy, but not too oily or sweet. The spices and vanilla make it almost cookie-like, but not too rich. And the combination of walnuts, dates and ginger is just right- the dates add some fruity sweetness and chewiness, the ginger is both sweet and zingy, and the nuts are toasty and crunchy in a perfectly complementary way. Walnuts and dates are well-known to go well together, but they make a wonderful menage-a-trois with ginger as well.

It's very satisfying to make granola- and easy. All you need to to is mix your dry ingredients- I added some oat flour to help cement my clusters together- and pour on the wet ones, mix the whole affair up well, and spread it on a baking pan. Once it smells ready, you just let it set, add the fruits, and break up your nice oaty chunks. This recipe is a little unusual in its inclusion of egg whites, but since I've always got a few left over from some custard or pudding, and it adds a little protein, I don't mind. You can just as easily leave them out, but they do help to make the granola clustery. The golden syrup is easy enough to find if there's a British products section in your local supermarket, but can also be substituted with agave nectar or, probably, corn syrup. I like golden syrup because it isn't too sweet, and has a unique raw-sugar flavour. It's definitely worth looking for.

Because of the sweet dates and crystallized ginger, no further sweetness is needed, so this granola is best eaten with plain yogourt or milk. It retains its crunchy character for well over a week, but shouldn't be kept out indefinitely (I froze half of my batch for later) and needs to be in an airtight container all the while. It also can be eaten all on its own as a snack.

And thus, I dream of the possibilities for many more granola variants over a bowlful...

Ginger-Walnut-Date Granola
Adapted from Food in Jars, by Marisa McClellan

3 1/2 C. (300 g.) Old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 C. (40 g.) Oat flour (or 1/2 C. rolled oats ground finely in a food processor)
1 Tsp. Ground ginger
1 Tsp. Cinnamon (optional)
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1 TBSP Flaxseed meal (optional)
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1/4 C. (60 ml) Neutral oil, e.g. sunflower or canola
1/2 C. (120 ml) Golden syrup, or agave nectar
2 Egg whites, stirred until frothy
1 C. (140 g.) Crystallized ginger, diced
100 g. Pitted dates, diced
1 C. (130 g.) walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 160℃.

Mix salt, spices, flaxseed (if using), walnuts, oats and flour. Add oil, vanilla and syrup and mix until well-coated, then add egg whites. 

Spread evenly on a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes, mixing well every 10 minutes.

Sprinkle ginger and date pieces onto the granola and mix in quickly while still warm, then leave to set in a dry place overnight.

Break up the cooled, dried granola into little clusters. Keep in an airtight container for up to a week, or freeze for several months.