Nut Stollen

Coarsely chop almonds, walnuts, pecans and (optional) hazelnuts together with the Christmas chocolate and soak them in rum.

Crumble fresh yeast, dissolve it in lukewarm milk and stir in 1 tbsp sugar. Cover and leave in a warm place until the mixture visibly foams.

Add the remaining sugar, salt, softened butter and egg to the yeast-milk. Add the flour and knead everything into a smooth, elastic dough.

Cover the dough and let it rise for 45 minutes until it has noticeably increased in volume.

Add the soaked nuts and chocolate (with as little excess rum as possible) to the dough and knead in evenly.

Shape the dough into a stollen and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Form a rim with rolled-up aluminum foil so the stollen doesn't spread while baking.

Let the shaped stollen rise, covered, for another 15 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 190 °C (top/bottom heat).

Bake the stollen at 190 °C for about 60 minutes until it is golden brown and baked through.

Bring the apricot jam to a brief boil with 1 tbsp water and brush the still-warm stollen all over with it.

Immediately sprinkle the glazed stollen with hazelnut flakes and let it cool completely.