Delicious, soft, fluffy stollen bites that require little hands on time but seriously impress! Low in sugar but high in flavour, perfect for a healthier Christmas treat or edible gift. A wonderful family holiday baking recipe.
- 2 tsp active dried yeast
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) warm milk
- 1 tsp rice syrup
- 285 g (2 cups) strong white (bread) flour
- pinch salt (about 1/2 tsp)
- 50 g (1/4 cup) xylitol
- 85 g (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 medium egg
- 1 heaped tbsp sugar free mincemeat* + 2 heaped tbsp flour or 3 tbsp raisins or dried cranberries
- zest of 1/2 orange or 1/4 satsuma
- 1 tbsp raisins or dried cranberries
- 3 tbsp chopped blanched almonds or walnuts
- 1 batch sugar free marzipan**
- milk, melted butter or beaten egg, for glazing
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Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and stir in the rice syrup. Leave on the side for 5 mins, until frothy.
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Mix the flour, salt, xylitol, melted butter and egg together, along with the yeast & milk mixture, to form a dough, then knead by hand or with a stand mixer for 3-4 mins until smooth. Place in a lightly oiled bowl (can be the same one you used to mix it) and cover with a damp tea towel or cling film. Leave to rise for at least an hour, or until doubled in size (if it doesn't rise that much, don't stress, it's not the end of the world!).
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When the dough has risen, punch it down and roll out a little on a well-floured surface (it doesn't matter how big you roll it right now). Place the mincemeat and flour (or raisins/cranberries), orange or satsuma zest, extra raisins or cranberries and chopped nuts into the centre of the dough and bring the sides up over it. Knead the mixture into the dough until it is well-incorporated and evenly distributed.
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Roll the dough out to a large rectangle roughly 1 cm (1/2") thick. Divide the marzipan into two and roll out to long sausage shapes almost the whole length of the dough. Place the marzipan rolls on each side of the dough and pull the dough over each piece of marzipan to meet in the middle (you may need to roll the dough a little over the marzipan, which is fine).
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Cut the dough vertically down the middle so you have two long lengths of dough filled with marzipan, then cut each of those sausage shapes into 12 bite-size pieces. Place on a large baking tray lined with baking paper (you may need 2 trays or to repeat the baking a second time with 1 tray), making sure the stollen bites don't touch. Brush them all with a little melted butter and cover with some lightly oiled cling film. Allow to rise for about 30 mins, while you preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas 5.
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After the 30 mins, brush the stollen bites with a little more melted butter or a little milk or beaten egg, then bake for about 15-20 mins, until the tops are golden brown and the marzipan is bubbling. Move to a cooling rack and allow to cool. Although delicious cool, I believe these bites are best served warm, so I tend to serve them warm or reheat them for 10 secs in the microwave before serving at a later stage.