The quarkstollen or ricotta stollen is one of the typical Christmas delicacies in Germany.
This recipe, unlike the dresdner stollen, which is the MOST traditional of the stollens during the holidays in Germany, is made with baking powder instead of live yeast (the same one with which kneaded bread is made) so in my opinion Taste has 2 “points in its favor” it is much easier to do and secondly it is not necessary to let it mature. Although this particular recipe seems to me to be richer if it was cooked for at least 2 weeks before being cut (and if it is kept refrigerated in foil it can last up to 6 months).
The base ingredient of this recipe is ricotta, but if you don’t have it on hand or it’s hard to find where you live, don’t worry, we can make it with natural yoghurts, ideally Greek, to see how to make it enter here.
This recipe, like all the old recipes (it has been around since the 12th century), has many versions. Here I leave the one that I like the most, but the variations that are easy to make are: add marzipan, add, remove or replace the nuts, change the liquor or change the lemon zest for orange. I insist that this is the combination that seems richer to me
One of the things that characterizes stollen is its elongated shape with one side thicker than the other, so when cutting it, there will be slices that have one side higher than the other, but as in almost all German recipes, its appearance must be rough Another thing that characterizes quarkstollen is a thick layer of powdered, icing or icing sugar that is reminiscent of snowy fields at Christmas time.
Will you prepare a ricotta stollen these holidays to celebrate the holidays?
Quarkstollen
Ingredients
- 1 lb flour without baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch grated ginger
- 1 lemon it zest
- 2 egg
- 1 cup salted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup ricotta
- 9 oz sultana raisins
- 4 oz candied fruit I replace it with candied orange peels
- 5 oz almonds chopped into large pieces
- 3 tablespoons rum or cognac
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC
- In a bowl, mix the flour, the baking powder, the spices, the sugar, the butter and the ricotta with a fork. Then add the raisins passed through a little flour (so they don’t stick), the almonds and the fruit candied, rum and eggs, is kneaded until obtaining a homogeneous and soft dough.
- In a buttered baking tin, form 2 long loaves (like those for hot dogs), make a slit in the middle with a knife to give the shape of a stollen and cook for approximately one hour, until lightly golden and at insert a stick it comes out dry. Carefully brush them with butter while they are still hot and sprinkle with icing sugar.
- Let them cool and wrap them in paper. Wait at least 3 days before cutting them and enjoy!
Notes
Once cold, keep in aluminium foil.