Celebration Stöllen

Make your own treats for Christmas that not only make great gifts but taste delicious too!

serves:12
preparation time:1 hour 35 minutes (leave dough in warm place for 1 hour)
cooking time:25 minutes
total time:2 hours

Ingredients:

·         325g white bread flour

·         7g sachet yeast

·         45g golden caster sugar

·         1 medium egg, lightly beaten

·         45g butter, melted

·         100ml warm milk

·         250g soft dried apricots, chopped

·         4 tbsp. orange liqueur

·         100g pistachios

·         60g dried cranberries

·         100g white chocolate, chopped

·         2 tsp. icing sugar, to dust

Preparation:

1.     Put the flour, yeast and sugar into a bowl. Add the egg, melted butter and milk.Knead together on a lightly floured surface by hand for 10 minutes or with a dough hook in an electric mixer for 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Put into a greased bowl, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour until doubled in size.

2.     Put apricots into a pan with the orange liqueur. Warm through for 2 minutes, and then put into a bowl to cool. Whizz the pistachios in a blender until finely ground. Add the cranberries, white chocolate, apricots and liqueur. Whizz again to combine.

3.     Turn out the mixture on to a sheet of baking parchment and shape into a log about 25cm long. Pop in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, to firm up.

4.     Roll outthe bread dough on a lightly floured surface to 28x18cm. Place the apricot and pistachio log on top, slightly to the left of the centre.

5.     Brushthe left-hand edge with water. Fold the right-hand side of dough over the apricot filling and press edge down firmly, to seal. Cover loosely with cling film and leave in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes. Set the oven Gas Mark 5 or 190°C.

6.     Removethe cling film, and then bake the stöllen for 25 minutes until risen and golden. Cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar. Slice to serve.

OUR TIP: To give it as a gift, wrap brown paper round the stöllen, put it on a tea towel and a board, wrap loosely in cellophane, and finish with some ribbon, a decoration and a tag.