The recipe for these cookies was inspired by Stollen, a German fruitcake usually eaten around Christmas, which is now sold in abundance in this country – particularly at Christmas markets.
Like many British Christmas cakes, Stollen usually contains candied or dried fruit, nuts, spices and very often marzipan.
While Stollen recipes can often be time-consuming and labour-intensive, this cookie recipe will leave you plenty of time to finish your Christmas shopping, wrap all your presents and prepare the Christmas dinner without having to forgo these wonderful Festivew flavours!
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Preparation time 15 minutes; baking time 15 minutes. Makes 15.
Ingredients
225g butter, softened
140g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tsp orange juice
280g plain flour
pinch of salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp mixed spice
60g dried and sweetened cranberries
60g sultanas or dried cherries
100g natural marzipan
Method
Preheat the oven to 190 ºC and lightly grease two large non-stick baking trays. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and orange juice and mix to combine.
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In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, then add the cranberries and sultanas or cherries.
Roll tablespoons of the dough into balls and place on the baking tray, spaced well apart. Roll 15 hazelnut-sized balls of marzipan and place to one side. Gently flatten the balls with your fingers and press a ball of marzipan into the centre of each one. Don’t worry about flattening the marzipan.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 10–15 minutes or until the cookies are starting to colour. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
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