Stellar Stollen

     There are some interesting food traditions surrounding Christmas.  I'm sure your family has a special item or meal that is served each year around your table.  Among the Pennsylvania German families in our area the stollen is something that young and old alike eagerly await to consume during the Advent season.

     Stollen has been described as "a buttery, fruit-filled, sugar coated loaf" that originated in Germany.  But it wasn't always such a delicious  treat.  First baked in Saxony in the 14th Century it was a rather dry loaf of bread baked with oats and wheat without any milk or butter.  That was due to the restriction of those items by the Catholic Church which forbade them in bakeries during Advent, a time of fasting.  But in a "butterbrief" letter to the Pope the nobility petitioned His Holiness for their inclusion.  They had to wait for 40 years and 5 Popes for a response which came in the "butter letter of 1490" and granted the use of butter in the stollen, but only for the royal household.  All other subjects had to pay a butter tax to Rome if they wanted to include it in any baked items.  It was only when Saxony became a Protestant province that the ban on butter was permanently removed.

     Today stollen, sometimes referred to as "Christstollen" during the Christmas season is a sweet bread filled with dried fruit, sometimes containing a core of marzipan in the center, and covered with a sugary icing or coating of powdered sugar.  First baked in Dresden, where it is still popular, it is supposed to symbolize the Infant Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths.

     If you choose not to follow the long and involved process to bake one yourself, be sure to seek out a local bakery that has one with your name on it!