Yesterday, Debbie Roome posted Chapter Eight Part One of The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt on her blog, today she posts Part Two.
Also today, Joan Campbell posts Chapter Nine Part One. Here, she shares one of her favorite Christmas recipes.
Favourite Christmas Recipe: Stollen
By Joan Campbell
The German Christmas cake known as ‘stollen’ was—and continues to be—a firm favourite in my household at Christmas time. My Dutch mother always makes quite a few of them, some to keep and some to give away as gifts. I’m not a keen baker, and have in fact never made a stollen myself, although my teenage daughter helped my Mom a few times, and assures me that it’s a ‘piece of cake’.
To diminish the disgrace of posting a recipe that I’ve never made, I did a bit of research into the history of the stollen, and it was fascinating. The stollen was first created in the Saxon Royal court in the early 1400’s. At that stage it probably didn’t taste half as good as it does now because of the papal ban on eating butter during Advent. It took 40 years of petitioning a string of popes in order to finally have the ban lifted. In 1491 Pope Innocenz VIII issued a letter (known as the "butter-letter") where he stated that the Dresden bakers would be allowed to use the richer ingredients, on condition that they pay a ‘fine’ which would be used to build churches. One bite of stollen and you know the fine was totally worth it!The rolled form of the stollen represents the shape of the swaddled baby Jesus, and the fruit and raisins represent the gifts that the Wise Men brought him. My mother claims that the dusting of icing sugar represents snow, but not even Wikipedia could confirm that.
Anyway, I hope I’ve enticed you enough to try your hand at making this historical and delicious Christmas cake.
Stollen
(Makes 2 Stollen of about 800 grams each)
Cake
180 gr Butter
250 gr Creamed cottage cheese
160 gr Sugar
2 Eggs (plus 1 extra for egg wash)
500 gr Flour
15 ml Baking Powder
10 ml Mixed Spice
Salt & few drops of Vanilla Essence
200 gr Cakemix (coat with thin layer of flour)
30 gr Sultana’s
Almonds (slivered)
Mixed peel
Cherries (+/-12)
Marzipan - mix together:
200 gr ground almonds
200 gr sugar
1 large egg
lemon peel
almond essence
Mix cake ingredients, then split into two equal parts.
Roll into thin sheets, apply egg wash, and grate Marzipan mix over the dough. Carefully roll each sheet into a loaf, then brush with egg. Bake on greased baking sheet for 45 minutes (180 deg Celcius)
Dust with icing sugar.
About Joan:
“The King’s Quiver” has been described by renowned author Susan Mathis as “creative, authentic and unique.” It is currently available as a free download from Joan’s website.
The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt
Grace takes delivery of a package and her life is turned upside down by nine sealed mystery envelopes from her late grandmother. Grammie’s instructions require Grace to take the journey of her lifetime, not only to far off places, but also into the deepest parts of her heart. As she follows the trail laid out for her and uncovers her family’s darkest secrets, Grace is forced to confront the loss and betrayal that has scarred her past and seek the greatest Christmas Treasure of all.
Chapter One by Joan Campbell
Chapter Two by Ruth O'Neil
Chapter Three by J. A. Marx
Chapter Four by Deanna Klingel
Chapter Five by Marji Laine
Chapter Six by Sheryl Holmes
Chapter Seven by Fay Lamb
Chapter Eight by Debbie Roome
Chapter Nine by Joan Campbell
Come join all the fun at Magnificent Hope's Christmas Party!
1 comment:
Thanks for nice recipe. I buy the Lion's brand of xmas cake almost every year until i found that Woolworths were selling Stollen. I'm not that great a baker but will give your mum's recipe a try sometime.
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