The 'Stollen' History 670 Years of ‘Stollen’ Tradition Probably the Saxonians invented it - the Christstollen, the King of all Christmas pastries. But this was a long time ago. For the first time, this cake was mentioned in 1330 in Naumburg/Saale, (Germany) as a special privilege granted to the bakers’ guild by the bishop. But probably its origin dates back to heathen pre-historic times. In the Middle Ages baking Stollen has developed into a highly regarded art. The growing significance in the 17th century was not only marginally connected with the activities of the East Indian Company, which in these times entertained a flourishing business with spices, which were also used for the preparation of Christstollen. For Christstollen all these exotic ingredients are still of decisive importance! They give it the very special taste and represent the characteristic feature of this pastry. The number of ‘Kölner Stollen’ made in the Rhine area represents a large share in Germany’s total Stollen production. The preparation of Stollen largely depends on the combination of the recipe. More over, much time is required for the preparation of Stollen dough, as they are heavy yeast dough containing large quantities of butter and margarine. In addition to selected flavours, spices, candied lemon and orange peel, almonds, nuts and raisins, quite often there is also added Marzipan to the dough. The preparation of a tasty Stollen that keeps well from such a heavy dough demands great professional skills of the baker. The traditional Stollen is the folded Stollen, and not the Stollen made in a baking pan. This fact reveals the actual skill of a Stollen baker, because the folded Stollen, possibly stuffed with Marzipan or Persipan, are more difficult to do.
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