Fig stollen with cheddar

Sometimes the best recipes come from the strangest of sources - that's the case with this delish-looking fruit and cheese bread. This recipe is reprinted (and slightly modified) from dairygoodness.ca, a website run by the Canadian dairy farmers association.

"Stollen" is traditionally a fruit cake in the traditional sense, containing dried fruit and marzipan, and covered with icing sugar. We love that this recipe is a modern take on traditional fruit cake with a savoury outer crust and sweet and savoury center.


Ingredients

• 1 cup walnuts
  
• 1 cup dried figs, coarsely chopped
  
• 1/3 cup orange juice
  
• 1 tsp orange zest
  
• 6 oz old cheddar or gouda, coarsely chopped and divided
  
• 2 1/4 cups flour
  
• 1 Packet (7g) instant yeast
  
• 3 tbsp sugar
  
• 1/2 cup  + 1/4 cup  milk
  
• 3 tbsp butter
  
• 1 egg
  
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Chop walnuts coarsely and divide in half.
3. Heat figs with orange juice in microwave oven on high for 2 minutes. Let cool and add orange zest, half the nuts and half the cheese.
4. In a large bowl, mix flour, yeast, sugar, remaining nuts and cheese.
5. Heat ½ cup milk with butter in microwave oven on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Pour over dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
6. Beat egg with ¼ cup milk and add to bowl. Mix well to combine. If dough sticks to your fingers, add a bit of flour, Knead dough for 5 minutes and let rest in bowl.
7. On a floured work surface, roll out dough to a 12˝ circle with a rolling pin.
8. Spread fig mixture lengthwise over a quarter of the dough in the middle. Form the mixture into a cylinder shape.
9. Moisten dough with hot water, fold in half and close to seal in filling (as you would with a calzone). The stollen should consist of a stuffed part and a dough-only part.
10. Place stollen on a parchment-lined baking sheet and let dough rise for 30 minutes.
11. Bake in the oven for 20–30 minutes or until dough has puffed up and is golden brown.
12. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top and serve. 
    

What do you think about fruit cake? Isn't this one a thousand times better?


Love,
Ashley, Jen and Alessandra