Christmas Cottage Cheese Stollen

⏳ Time

2 hours

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

In addition to raisins and dried apricots, you can add any other dried fruits, dried cherries, and various nuts - this will only enrich the stollen.

Ingredients

Butter - 10.6 oz
Cottage cheese - 8.8 oz
Chocolate eggs - 2 pieces
Meyer Lemon Juice - 2 tablespoons
Powdered Sugar - 2½ cups
Brandy - 2 tablespoons
Baking Powder - 0.5 oz
Wheat Flour - 21.2 oz
Chopped almonds - 7.1 oz
Raisins - 5.3 oz
Dried Apricots - 3.5 oz
Candied fruits - 5.3 oz
Vanilla salt - a pinch

Step by Step guide

Step 1

Beat 200 g of softened butter (not melted!) with 1 cup of powdered sugar, add the eggs and continue beating until smooth. Add the cottage cheese (if it has lumps, it's better to strain it through a sieve), vanilla, lemon juice, and brandy.

Step 2

Wash the dried fruits if necessary. Cut the dried apricots into pieces. Dip the almonds in boiling water for a few minutes to easily remove the skin, then dry the peeled almonds in a pan or oven and grind them into fine crumbs. Lightly coat the candied fruits and washed dried fruits in a handful of flour. Mix all the nuts, candied fruits, and dried fruits into the dough.

Step 3

Mix the flour separately with the baking powder and gradually add it to the other ingredients. Knead the dough.

Step 4

Place the dough on a floured surface and divide it in half, shaping each half into an elongated loaf. Use the edge of your palm to make a groove in the loaf, as if separating a third of the loaf. Fold this third over the larger part. This is the shape of the stollen - it symbolizes the swaddled baby Jesus. Do the same with the second half of the dough.

Step 5

Place the stollens on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake in a preheated oven at 356°F for about an hour until done (check more often - a small stollen bakes faster). Remove from the oven, place on a rack, and while still hot, soak with melted butter (about 100 g). Generously sprinkle with powdered sugar, using about 1 to 1½ cups. Allow the stollens to cool.

Step 6

Wrap in several layers of foil or parchment paper and let them mature for 2-3 weeks in a cool place - for example, in the refrigerator or on the balcony. It’s better to take the stollens out occasionally and sprinkle them with a new layer of powdered sugar. They can be eaten right away, but a 'matured' stollen is definitely tastier.