Stollen bites

Prep time: 20 minutes, plus chilling time Cook time: 25 minutes

Makes about 36

These are much easier to make than yeasted stollen bites and are not a poor cousin to them, either – they’re gorgeous. The recipe is from my friend Anja Dunk. Her mother was German and she carries on the traditions of German Christmas baking every year. Don’t let the stollen bites get too dark around the edges. They shouldn’t be at all ‘crispy’, but soft.

INGREDIENTS

– 100g mixture of

raisins and sultanas – 35g mixed peel

– 2 tbsp brandy

– 300g plain flour

– 50g cornflour

– 75g caster sugar

– 1 tsp baking powder – ½ tsp bicarbonate

of soda

– 1 tsp ground cinnamon – ¼ tsp ground ginger – ¼ tsp ground cloves – ⅛ tsp freshly grated

nutmeg

– finely grated zest of

½ orange and ½ lemon – 1 egg, lightly beaten – 120g butter, at room

temperature

– 200g Quark

– 1½ tsp almond extract – ½ tsp vanilla extract

To finish

– 135g melted butter – 225g icing sugar, sifted

METHOD

Put the dried fruit and mixed peel into a small saucepan with the brandy. Heat this just until you can see the brandy bubbling a little, then immediately pull the saucepan off the heat, stir the fruit and leave to plump up for a couple of hours.

Heat the oven to 170C/160C fan/gas mark 3½.

Put all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl with a pinch of salt. Mix together then make a well in the centre and put the zest, egg, butter, Quark, almond and vanilla extracts into it, along with the boozy fruit. Using your hands, bring everything together until you have a soft, sticky dough. Set aside for 10 minutes so the bicarbonate of soda can do its job and line two large baking sheets.

Pull off nuggets of dough about the size of a walnut and shape each one into a lozenge. Set on the lined sheets leaving 2cm between each one. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, turning the sheets halfway through and swapping the shelves over too. Don’t let them get too brown.

While they’re baking, get the melted butter ready and put the icing sugar into a broad shallow bowl. As soon as the bites come out of the oven, brush them generously with melted butter and roll them in the sugar, one at a time, until they’re well coated. Transfer them to a cooling rack. Before storing them – they’ll keep for a couple of weeks in an airtight container – dust with more icing sugar. It should be thick, a real snowy coating.