Although Stollen was originally a German Christmas speciality, it is increasingly becoming an essential part of Christmas in many parts of the world. With its sweet, rich, fruit filled buttery dough and marzipan filling it is easy to see why it is a popular addition to the Christmas table. However it’s doubtful whether anyone would find the original Stollen recipe as enjoyable.
Stollen has been baked in the German town of Dresden since the 15th century, although there are earlier records of a similar cake, it is thought to have first been created for Christmas in the Saxon Royal Court. The characteristic Stollen shape was designed to represent the Christ child wrapped in swaddling clothes. Originally it was a plain flavourless pastry made, under supervision from the Church Council, only from flour, yeast, oil and water as the bakers were prohibited from using richer ingredients during the Christmas period. The Electoral Prince decided to write to the Pope to try to persuade him to end the restrictions and eventually, the ‘Butter Letter’ was sent to Dresden. The Pope had decided that richer ingredients could be used, however the bakers had to pay a fine for the privilege and the money collected was put towards the building of new churches.
After years of enduring the strict Christmas ingredient ban, the Dresden bakers ensured that their recipes contained plenty of butter and sugar not only in the dough itself but also by brushing more butter onto the cooked Stollen and dusting them with even more sugar! As the basic recipe evolved some bakers began to add marzipan to the recipe either in chunks distributed throughout the dough or a whole piece down the centre - this is an optional addition which varies according to regional preferences.
The Stollen became such an important part of the Dresden Christmas festivities that each year the Dresden Bakers baked huge Stollens especially for the ruling monarch. One made for a special festival in 1730 was reputed to weigh 1.8 tons, took 100 bakers nearly a week to make and needed a cart pulled by eight horses to take it to the palace. Even an oversized knife was specially made for the occasion.
The original knife went missing during World War II however a replica was made for the very first Dresden Stollen Festival which was held in December 1994 to coincide with the annual Christmas fair. A giant Stollen weighing between 3 and 4 tons is the highlight of the festival which is transported on a horse drawn wagon and leads a procession of bakers and pastry chefs across the Aldstadt (Old Town). The procession ends at the Christmas fair where the Stollen is ceremoniously cut by the Royal Master Baker and the Stollen Maiden, a baker or pastry chef trainee who is chosen annually from a local culinary school.
If you can resist from eating it all, keeping the first piece of Stollen is meant to ensure that there will be enough money for one the following year and keeping the last piece ensures that there will be enough food for the whole of the year!
© Suzie Banks 2009
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