Making Stollen: Part 1

My parents came up for a visit this week. The purpose of their trip is two fold. First, it has been more than a month since they have seen us, and their grandkids. We are not planning on visiting them for the holidays until December 21st, so it would have been a long time between visits. Second, my mother would like to make Christmas stollen with me. It is pronounced STALL-en.

My mother is of Trinidadian origin, ethnically East Indian. My father is German, and my Oma used to make stollen every Christmas. Stollen is a cross between a sweet bread, and a fruit cake. The version my family makes is about the consistency of those dense German breads. I have seen other recipes, but the result is more like an egg bread with bits of fruit. Not the stollen I know.

My mom has always been into cooking foods of different countries, and she has taken over a couple German recipes. She also makes some really good Greek foods, spanokopita, and tiropita, but that is another post. So, aside from Königsberger klopse (meatballs in white sauce with capers), my mom makes an excellent Christmas stollen. The problem is, she never makes it the same way twice, and the multiple recipes we have do not quite jive.

I have spent the afternoon trying to figure out the recipe so things will go smoothly tomorrow, but there are some discrepencies between the different versions. My mom has been suffering from declining mental capabilities over the past few years (memory and cognitive abilities), so she is not much help in illuminating why there are these differences. Plus, she forgot the marzipan at home. Now, it is not clear if this is a necessary ingredient, but I know my parents made a special trip to the German shop to buy this marzipan. I think my father was quite exasperated she left it at home.

My mom told me it takes all day to make stollen, and my father does not think we should attempt to make it here. We have a small kitchen, and there is limited counter space. He is worried the cat will jump on the counter since she often jumps on the table (with the help of a chair). Today was a PD day, so both kids were home. He figured their house would be the better place. It probably is, but I have made more elaborate things with less space. My father finds our house small, and often needs to come up with examples as to why we need to upgrade. Yet another post!

However, after reading the recipe, I am not sure why this is going to take all day. The pretzels I make have to rise twice, and they take me about three hours total. Now, my mom has been making stollen for many, many years, and she says she needs a day. Of course, I am trying to be logical, based on what I have read in the recipe, but I have never actually made stollen. Maybe it does take much longer than I think.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day. We shall see how it unfolds. I want to go to playgroup in the morning, for a bit. I have meeting at 4:30pm, so I have to be out of the house by 4pm. We are going to start the stollen tomorrow morning, after my daughter gets on the bus, but before playgroup. Then, we're off!

 

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