My apologies that this is a little late for Christmas 2017, but maybe you’ll make it anyway as winter treat. Stollen is a 14th Century treat; a rich fruit bread originating from Germany. It’s always been one of my favourite festive treats prior to being gluten-free, but none of the recipes I’d tried since had ever quite managed to emulate it. Whilst this may not be perfect, it’s pretty darn close IMHO.
If you have a Stollen pan, then you can by all means use it. But, if like me that’s something that would get very little use – I am suggesting you use a regular 2 lb loaf tin. Another option is just to try and shape a ciabatta style loaf by hand – it will spread more on a baking sheet. Whatever you use, just remember to line it with greaseproof paper! One final note, I find this is an ideal recipe to use up any leftover marzipan from making my Battenberg cake. If you have a smaller amount left, don’t worry – just throw it in, in smaller balls. It will still taste delicious!
Ingredients
- 250g gluten-free self-raising flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp Xanthan Gum
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 50g unsalted butter, melted
- 300ml sour cream
- 100g caster sugar
- grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract or Essence
- 200g glace cherries, cut into quarters
- 100g unsalted pistachios
- 100g dried fruit (use whatever you have to hand – sultanas, mixed fruit with peel or raisins)
- 250g golden marzipan
- Icing sugar, to dust
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C/ Gas Mark 4/ 350F
- Sift the flour, baking powder and Xanthan Gum into a large bowl
- Add the eggs with the melted butter, sour cream and caster sugar and mix until you get a dough consistency. Stir through the lemon zest, dried fruit, cherries and pistachios so that they are evenly distributed.
- Roll your marzipan into a long sausage shape, on a clean surface dusted with icing sugar (to prevent it sticking). Place this in the centre of your tin.
- Pour your dough mixture of the top. Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Turn out onto a wire rack to cool and dust with icing sugar before serving.
NOTE: I find this is best eaten straight from the oven whilst still warm or within 2-3 days. If you are not going to eat it all quickly, then slice it and freeze it between sheets of greaseproof.
glutenfreeness 