Gluten-Free Holiday Stollen

This delicious recipe from King Arthur Flour received rave reviews! The classic German Christmas fruitcake is made with yeast, but this quicker, easier gluten-free version is made with baking powder.

Ingredients

FOR DOUGH:
2 ¼ cups gluten-free ﬂour, such as King Arthur Flour Gluten-Free Flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon
½ cup cold unsalted butter
¾ cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoons LorAnn Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor
¼ teaspoon LorAnn Citrus Blossom Flavor or the grated rind of 1 lemon
1 cup Fruitcake Fruit Blend or 1/2 cup golden raisins + 1/2 cup of your favorite dried fruit such as cranberries, cherries, dark raisins or apricots, chopped into 1/2" pieces.
⅓ cup slivered almonds, toasted and cooled
FOR TOPPING:
6 tablespoons butter, melted
¾ cup confectioners' sugar

Recipe PDF

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Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

Whisk together ﬂour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum in a mixing bowl.

Cut the cold butter into small chunks, then blend into the ﬂour mixture to form uneven crumbs.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cheese, eggs, vanilla, and ﬂavors.

Toss the fruit and almonds with the ﬂour mixture until evenly distributed. Then combine the wet and dry ingredients, mixing until most of the ﬂour is moistened.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly ﬂoured work surface and knead it two or three times, until it holds together. Divide dough in half.

Pat each piece of dough into an 8" x 7" oval about 1/2 inch thick.

Fold each piece of dough roughly in half, leaving the edge of the top half about 1/2" short of the edge of the bottom half. Should you fold the long way or the short way? The long way will give a longer, narrower stollen, with shorter slices. Folding the short way will give a wider, fatter stollen, with longer slices.

Use the edge of your hand to press the dough to seal about 1" in back of the open edge; this will make the traditional stollen shape. It's also the familiar Parker House roll shape, if you've ever made them. The dough will probably crack, that's OK, just smooth it out as best you can.

Carefully place the shaped stollen on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the stollen until they're very lightly browned around the edges and on top; about 40 minutes. A cake tester inserted into the center should come out

Remove the stollen from the oven and transfer them to a rack. Brush them each with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle heavily with confectioners' sugar.

Allow the stollen to cool, then brush with butter again and sprinkle with sugar again. Wrap in plastic wrap until ready to serve and serve within a week. If desired, sprinkle with additional confectioners' sugar just before serving. Yields 2, one pound loaves.