Pistachio and Cranberry Stollen

This is an upgrade of the classic Stollen - sometimes with a bake, I wonder whether the time it takes to make/bake is worth it when alternatives can be bought in shops. This is a classic example of when it definitely is worth it! I made a pistachio and hazelnut marzipan (instead of the classic almond one), and it lifts the stollen to a different level. This was going to be pure pistachio to be honest, but I didn't buy enough so I supplemented with hazelnuts, and it worked beautifully! The dough is also heavily spiced with mixed spice, and filled with cranberries and mixed dried fruit. Perfect to serve at Christmas.

I want to try making individual stollen, so if I get around to that, I'll do a post showing those soon. Here, I made a wreath, which I think worked pretty effectively.

Makes one wreath (easily serves 12)

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 300g strong white bread flour
• 2 tbsp mixed spice
• 7g fast action dried yeast
• 1 tsp finely ground sea salt
• Zest of one lemon
• Zest of one orange
• 75g butter/margarine, melted
• 150ml milk (I used skimmed milk, but any would work), lukewarm

For the pistachio and hazelnut marzipan:

• 150g pistachios (unshelled)
• 50g hazelnuts
• 200g icing sugar sifted
• 1 egg

For the filling/topping:

• 100g dried cranberries
• 100g dried mixed fruit (mine was a mix of raisins, sultanas and mixed peel, but you could use whatever your favourite dried fruit is)
• 25g butter/margarine

Method:

1. Prepare the dough. Pour the flour into a large mixing bowl in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook if you have one (if not, this dough is fine to be worked by hand, just knead for an extra 5 minutes). Pour the yeast on one side of the bowl, and the mixed spice, salt, lemon and orange zest on the other side. Stir briefly to mix.

2. Pour over the melted butter and milk. Turn the stand mixer on and leave to knead for around 10 minutes (or if doing by hand, 15 minutes), until it is springy to the touch. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for at least 90 minutes, until it has doubled in size).

3. Meanwhile, make the pistachio and hazelnut marzipan (this is really simple don't worry!). Finely blend the pistachio and hazelnuts (I used a nutribullet, but a food processor or even a pestle and mortar will work). Add the icing sugar and egg and blend until the marzipan is fairly smooth (I like a bit of texture so left it a little chunky, but that's optional). Chill until ready to use.

4. Place a layer of cling film on your surface and dust with plain flour. Tip the dough out onto this surface and roll until it is 60cm long and 20cm wide.

5. It's now time to spread the marzipan - this is tricky as the marzipan is very sticky, but I found the easiest way was to spoon blobs of marzipan all over the surface. Then I laid over some clingfilm and then spread out the marzipan over the whole dough (leaving a 1-2cm gap around the edges) - this seemed to work for me. Alternatively, if the marzipan has firmed up in the fridge, you could roll the marzipan out between two sheets of clingfilm and tip this onto the dough.

6. Sprinkle over the dried cranberries and mixed dried fruit.

7. Roll the dough up from the long edge as tight as you can. Once finished, turn so the seam is at the bottom.

8. Use a sharp knife to slice along the middle of the "log", leaving a 3-4cm gap at one end of the log. Place the right side of the log over the left side, and move the left side to where the right side was - effectively twisting the dough. Repeat until you have reached the end of the dough. Shape into a wreath and transfer to a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Cover and leave to prove for around 1 hour.

9. Preheat the oven to 180c (160c fan)/355f/gas mark 4. Bake the stollen for 22-25 minutes until nice and golden. Once out of the oven, brush over the 25g melted butter and cover with a clean tea towel to cool.

10. Enjoy!