Get your hands on these Vegan Stollen Bites. Soft spiced fruit bread filled with marzipan and rum soaked glacé cherries. Perfect for Christmas snacking. This stollen recipe is a huge hit in my house. Tiny but luxurious squidgy bites of boozy fruit bread? Of course no-one could say no. Plus it’s all vegan and dairy free!
What is stollen?
Stollen originally heralds from Germany where it is traditionally eaten at Christmas. Every year a Christmas market is held in Dresden where a massive Stollen is paraded through the streets. Stollen is a type of enriched dough. Enriched dough literally means it has been made richer with milk, butter and sugar. Stollen is bit of an exception as the bread itself has very little sugar, with the sweetness instead coming from the dried fruits.
How to make vegan stollen
To make Stollen vegan I’ve replaced the butter with a vegan alternative and simply used more oat milk in place of the egg and cow’s milk. Use strong white bread flour and yeast and knead for 6-8 minutes to get a silky smooth dough. The dough should be springy and ‘bounce back’ when you firmly press it. Ensure you prove the dough twice so you get a lovely moist, flaky pastry.
The ingredients
I’ve made these vegan stollen bites extra rich by soaking the chopped glacé cherries, raisins 𝘢𝘯𝘥 cranberries in dark rum. Add a good pinch of nutmeg and you have a truly festive affair on your hands. Leave the fruit to soak while your dough rises, approximately 2 hours. Alternatively you can choose to soak the fruit overnight if you want a deeply rich and alcohol laden stollen!
I’ve been a bit controversial and omitted the mixed peel and instead used orange zest and freshly squeezed orange juice. You still get the lovely zesty flavour without too much candied fruit. I’m not a fan of hugely fruit filled sweet bread so this swap works well for me.
Leave a comment and let me know how you get on making these Vegan Stollen Bites. I would love to see your creations over on instagram!
More Christmas Recipes
vegan chocolate orange brownie cookies
redcurrant jelly and marzipan cookies
Vegan Stollen Bites
Ingredients
- 75 g raisins
- 30 g glacé cherries
- 15 g cranberries
- 2 tbsp dark rum
- Zest from 1 orange
- 1 tbsp orange juice
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 100 g vegan butter
- 100 mls unsweetened oat milk
- 250 g strong white bread flour
- 30 g caster sugar
- 7 g sachet fast action dried yeast
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp all mixed spice
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp icing sugar
- 200 g marizpan
- 1 tbsp vegan butter
- Icing sugar to decorate
Instructions
- Mix the raisins, glacé cherries, cranberries, dark rum, orange juice, zest and nutmeg in a bowl. Cover with cling film and leave the fruit to soak.
- Meanwhile melt the vegan butter in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the oat milk. Leave to cool for 5 minutes.
- Add the flour, sugar, yeast, spices and salt to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine then pour in the lukewarm milk and butter liquid. Stir until the mixture forms a moist, slightly shaggy dough. Tip out onto a well floured surface and knead the dough for 6-8 minutes. The dough is ready when it is smooth and springy to the touch.
- Form the dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with cling film and leave the dough to prove for 1.5-2 hours. The dough should have risen but not quite doubled in size.
- Grease and line a 20cm / 8 inch square baking tin with baking parchment. Sprinkle the icing sugar onto the work surface. Roll out the marzipan to approximately a 20.5cm/ 8inch square and leave to one side.
- Next tip out the dough onto a well floured work surface. Pour over the soaked fruit and knead into the dough. Cut the dough in half. Scatter over more flour to help you roll one piece of dough to roughly a 20.5cm/ 8inch square. Place into the prepared tin. Top with the marzipan. Then roll out the second piece of dough, again to approx 20.5cm/ 8 inch and place on top of the marizipan. Cover with cling film and leave to prove for 1 hour.
- Pre heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / gas mark 4. Bake the dough for 20-25 minutes, until well risen and golden. Cool for 15 minutes in the tin. Then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
- Neaten the bread by trimming the edges. Melt the remaining butter and brush over the stollen. Sprinkle generously with icing sugar then cut into 25 squares.