Tuesday, 15 December 2009

Bake of the week: Stollen and an Advent Tea Party

Stollen was this week's Christmas baking experiment, and I was extremely pleased with the result. I got the recipe from the Usborne Book of Christmas Baking (a wonderful book, not just for children with lots of accessible recipes, many of which I want to try!). I cheated a little bit and used my bread machine to mix and knead the dough, but I did make my own almond paste (surprisingly easy, just egg, ground almonds and sugar). It smelt absolutely wonderful and tasted pretty good too.

I also had an Advent Tea for some of my friends last week, and here are the biscuits and cakes that I baked. At the back, Swedish gingerbread (recipe to follow after Christmas), on the right, Christmas rock cakes and vegan cranberry oat biscuits, and Christmas shaped shortbread; I might post recipes for some of these if anyone is interested! We also had chocolate coins in belated celebration of St. Nicholas day, since my father is called Nicholas!

4 comments:

  1. ooh, that looks so yummy. Great tip about the almond paste. I never could find the recipe for that. I usually substitute it with marzipan.

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  2. Since reading a post on Cornflower's blog about Stollen and knowing that you were baking some I decided to buy some and give it a try. It's delicious! You do such a fabulous job Verity, have you missed your calling as a baker?

    I'm going to try making Stollen from scratch to redeem myself.

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  3. I'm impressed that you made your own almond paste! I never even knew that was an option...I just get it at the grocery store.

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  4. Thanks Mrs B!

    Darlene - it is yummy! I can't wait to have real stollen in Austria next week.

    JoAnn - neither did I!

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