Spiced and fruity stollen buns recipe

Even if you’ve never made anything with yeast give these a go. They’re really easy. Of course they’re not like proper stollen – which is very difficult to make – but, with the spices and fruit and almond paste, they have the same flavours.

These would be great for breakfast over Christmas (maybe on Boxing Day when there isn’t the pressure of a big meal to prepare) or even with coffee in the afternoon (very hygge).

Do get Scandinavian almond paste for these, not marzipan. Regular marzipan hardens in cooking, whereas almond paste stays soft. Almond paste is available from Ocado and also the Scandinavian online shop scandikitchen.co.uk.

Prep time: 20 minutes plus 2 hour 30 minutes | Cooking time: 15 minutes

MAKES

12

INGREDIENTS

• 85g dried cranberries

• 110g mixed dried fruit

• finely grated zest of 1 orange and juice of ½

• finely grated zest of ½ lemon

• 4 tbsp apple brandy

• 30g candied peel

• 550g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

• 2 x 7g sachets of easy-blend dried yeast

• 85g soft light-brown sugar

• very generous grating of nutmeg

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• ¼ tsp ground ginger

• 8 cardamom pods, seeds ground

• 85g butter

• 250ml full-fat milk

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

• groundnut oil, for greasing

• 30g almonds, roughly chopped

• 300g almond paste (not marzipan, which hardens during baking), such as Odense Mandelmassa from Ocado

To decorate (optional):

• 150g icing sugar

• squeeze of lemon juice

• almond flakes, toasted, or pistachios, chopped

METHOD

1. Put the dried cranberries and mixed dried fruit in a pan and add the citrus zests, orange juice and apple brandy. Heat until boiling, then immediately take off the heat and add the candied peel. Leave to soak.

2. Place the flour, yeast, sugar, spices and butter in a large bowl with ¼ tsp of salt. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients.

3. Heat the milk so it is tepid, then combine it with the egg. Slowly pour this on to the flour, mixing it in with a knife. Bring the dough together using your hands.

4. Tip it on to a lightly floured work surface and knead for a few minutes. Lightly oil a bowl and put the dough in it. Cover with cling film and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 90 minutes.

5. Line a roasting tin (including the sides) with baking parchment. Put the dough on to a lightly floured surface and make it into a long strip measuring 65x20cm. I use my hands and a rolling pin to do this.

6. Scatter the soaked fruit over the dough and sprinkle on the chopped almonds. Form the almond paste into a sausage shape 65cm long (do this in two pieces if that’s easier). Place it along a long side of the dough, then pull the edge up over it and roll the dough so that all the fruit and marzipan is enclosed.

7. Trim both ends to neaten, then cut the roll into 12 pieces, arranging them cut-side up in the tin. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for an hour.

8. Preheat the oven to 180C/170C Fan*/Gas 4.

9. Bake the buns for 15 minutes or until golden.

10. Leave to cool then separate them. You can just dust over some icing sugar, or you can ice them.

11. If you would like to ice the buns, mix the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make an icing roughly the thickness of double cream. Leave it to set a little, then drizzle the icing across the buns. Scatter over the nuts and leave to set.

*Diana’s conversions may differ slightly from the standard