Quick Cheese Stollen
If you missed my Classic Stollen recipe, which I posted a few weeks ago, and you still want to try this special German sweet bread, I suggest you make a quick cheese stollen. It doesn't even need a long maturation time, it can be served right away or in a few days, it's flavourful, dense and so tasty.
I also tried to let it maturate for longer time and, after 3 weeks, it had a drier texture than the classic stollen, it was like a dense and flavourful cake. But, after 3-4 days after baking, my husband told me it was better than the fluffy stollen and the texture was really nice.
So you can already start to make cheese stollen, it will be just perfect for Christmas. If not, it can be consumed even after 2 months, similar to gingerbread in texture. Of course, you can make the version with marzipan, you can find how to do it in the stollen with yeast recipe.
Place 250g dried fruit in a jar, pour the rum over, shake the jar and set aside with a lid on at room temperature for 1-7 days before you start making the stollen.
In a bowl, combine 250g softened butter, room temperature, 250g sugar and the 2 eggs, whisk well.
Add the cow's cheese, mix.
Add the zest and the juice from 1 lemon and vanilla extract to this mixture.
Now it's time to stir in 600g flour, 10g baking powder and 200g roughly chopped (using the knife or in the food processor) almonds.
Mix to combine with a spatula or a spoon.
At the end, add in the drained fruit, without the rum (I discarded the remaining alcohol) from step 1.
I also recommend dusting this dough with 2-3 tbsp flour, to absorb the extra liquid. Mix with a spatula or with your hands, until smooth and uniform and a bit sticky.
Dust the table with flour, turn the dough onto and divide into 3 equal parts.
It's sticky, but don't add more flour, we don't want the stollen to be too hard.
Only dust the table with flour while shaping it.
Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough into an oval, about 1.5-2cm thick.
Dust the work surface with flour, this makes it easier to work the dough.
Fold one of the sides of the oval over the other, but without overlapping them perfectly.
The stollen is ready now. Transfer to a large baking sheet, lined with parchment paper.
Repeat the procedure for the other 2 ovals. Optionally, you can add marzipan in the middle, see how it's done in the stollen with yeast recipe (steps 11-12).
Bake in the preheated oven to 180 degrees C for 60 minutes.
Right after removing from the oven, brush with melted butter on top.
Coat the stollens well on all sides, this way they will preserve longer without molding, even kept at room temperature.
Then the last protection layer, plenty of confectioners' sugar dusted everywhere.
Now let the stollens cool completely at room temperature.
To start with, I recommend keeping the stollen wrapped in baking paper for 1-2 days.
Then transfer to a bag, so that it won't get dry too fast. I store it on the cold balcony, for extra safety, but room temperature is also fine.
In the first week after baking, the taste and texture will be just perfect. Later, it gets a bit denser, but it's still tasty and flavourful.
It's nice to share slices of stollen wrapped in parchment paper or gift paper with the loved ones.
Enjoy!
