My husband served a mission in Germany. He loves German food and one of his favorites was stollen. After we got married, I looked at many recipes of stollen to try and make some for him. The authentic ones are all a little time intensive, but I found this one in Good Housekeeping that is quite simple. Floyd's analysis of the bread - good, but real stollen is a drier and harder. Since neither of those are necessarily qualities I desire in bread, I will stick with this one.
Stollen
2 1/3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, cold
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup dried fruit (I use Craisins), finely chopped
1/3 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
2 eggs
powdered sugar
Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Use a pastry blender or two knives to cut in butter until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in ricotta, dried fruit, pecans, vanilla, lemon peel, and eggs until well combined. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until blended. Roll dough into an oval shape (approximately 8"x10"). Fold the dough in half lengthwise, allowing the bottom half of the dough to extend about 1". Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar to coat.
**Note - Sometimes I substitute almond extract for the vanilla and think it is good. I also never put the nuts in because we aren't nut people.**
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