Citrus Marzipan Stollen

Warm the milk until lukewarm — it should only be hand-warm.

Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the center. Crumble the yeast into the well and mix with a little lukewarm milk and some flour to make a sponge.

Cover the bowl and let the sponge rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Wash the orange and lemon in hot water and dry. Finely grate the zest. Juice one orange and mix the orange juice with the Cointreau.

Add sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, 200 g softened butter, the citrus zest and the orange juice–Cointreau mixture to the sponge and knead everything into a smooth dough.

Cover the dough and let it rise again in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Shape the marzipan into a roll about 20 cm long.

Briefly knead the dough, then roll it out on a floured work surface to a rectangle of about 30 × 20 cm. Place the marzipan roll on top, fold the dough from one long side over about three-quarters of the way, roll the other long side inward, and shape everything into a stollen.

Preheat the oven to 175 °C fan (alternatively 200 °C top/bottom heat).

Place the stollen on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

Bake the stollen in the preheated oven for about 50–60 minutes.

Melt 50 g butter. Brush the hot stollen with half the butter, sprinkle 1 tbsp sugar over it and sift 50 g powdered sugar on top. Repeat the process with the remaining butter and again sugar and powdered sugar.

Let the stollen cool completely on a wire rack.