How to make
In a glass bowl, cut the dried fruit - green figs, apricots, dates and candied peels. Add the blueberries and raisins to them. Pour rum over them and leave them for 30 minutes to absorb the liquid and swell up.
Then boil them for 2-3 minutes and leave to cool, while mixing them with the almond essence, ground nuts and other ingredients. Put them in the refrigerator for 12 hours to absorb the aromas.
In a suitable bowl sift the flour, by adding the dry ingredients - salt, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg. Mix them well and form a well.
In a bowl with lukewarm milk, mix the yeast with a spoonful of sugar and leave it in a warm place to activate.
Heat the butter briefly and once it cools down, add it to the beaten sugar, vanilla and eggs and beat them into a homogeneous mixture.
Pour the yeast and the butter-egg mixture into the well. Knead a soft and elastic dough, which you then need to cover with foil for fresh storage. Let it rest for 30 minutes in a warm room. Roll it out into a rectangle and pour the soaked fruit on it (they should be at room temperature).
Roll up the filling with the edges of the dough and knead it once more to distribute the filling evenly. Divide it into two parts, which you then have to roll out again into rectangles. Fold the dough into three parts like an envelope. Place the two rolls in small bread tins onto greased baking paper. Let them rise once more.
The oven is preheated to 360°F (180 degrees). The stollen is baked for about 50-55 minutes at 360°F (180 degrees) or at 320°F (160 degrees) with a fan.
After the appearance of the golden-crispy crust, cover the hot stollen with the melted butter and sprinkle it generously with the vanilla powdered sugar.
After it is completely cooled, wrap it with cling film and store it in a cool place. When serving, sprinkle it again with powdered sugar.
Tip: You can prepare the candied citrus sticks yourself and they can be a handy for any cake. Their aroma is more saturated as well. In the summer I picked fresh lemons, peeled them carefully and cut them into strips. I make a sugar syrup, in which I blanch them for 3-4 minutes. They change their color and become transparent.
I let them drain and dry, but only for a short time. Store them in a glass jar with a lid. The oranges are prepared the same way, but I cut them into thicker strips.
While making muffins or sponge cakes, I dip them in melted chocolate and add them into the dough, once it has cooled. Laborious, but worth it.
The Christmas stollen with green fig jam is ready
