I was once told that when skies are grey, temperatures are dropping and your fingers have turned to ice, think of somewhere hot and you’ll feel so much better.

Sitting on my bedroom floor, fiercely hugging my hot water bottle and dreaming of Thailand, I wonder where I ever heard that cr**!

Anyway, the oven has been humming all afternoon as my mum prepares batch after batch of mince pies! Though they’re not entirely vegan (she made a mistake with the margarine). I did manage to convince her that eggs and milk weren’t necessary to brown the tops! It was rather nice to hear her open the oven and say, “Oh I guess you don’t need eggs and milk after all”.

I’ll be making some (not so average) mince pies later this week, which will be vegan! So look out for that post. As for now, you may remember me mentioning some trials of festive baking in yesterday’s post. Well, in an effort to have some vegan treats on offer when the relatives arrive,  I was up until 1:ooam last night with the smell of sweet spices filling the air and a stollen baking in the oven.

I have to say that I’ve never made a stollen before and I certainly didn’t feel confident enough to go for it ad-lib. So, I must confess that this is not my own recipe. However, it was one that caught my eye when flicking through the newspaper (of all places!). It is a slight variation on the traditional stollen, as it is made with crystallised ginger and apricots as opposed to glace cherries and citrus peel.

Nevertheless, this stollen has a light and tender crumb which uses only a minimal amount of sugar, allowing for the greater part of this cake’s sweetness to be contributed by the marzipan.

Though the original recipe was not vegan, it was easily ‘veganised’! I have adapted the recipe with a few minor substitutions and the final result makes you wonder why animal products were ever needed in the first place.

Apricot & Ginger Stollen

350g strong white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice (or 1/4 tsp each of ground cloves, nutmeg & extra cinnamon)

80g Pure Soya (or any other vegan margarine)
7g sachet fast-action yeast
30g castor sugar
15og natural dried apricots, roughly chopped
125g sultanas
75g crystallised ginger, roughly chopped
50g slivered almonds
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer + 2 Tbsp water
(or any other suitable egg replacer, see here)
150ml almond milk
(or your favourite non-dairy milk)

200g vegan marzipan (recipe below or use pre-made)

Turn your oven to 150C / 300F for only 5 minutes.

Pour the flour, salt and spices into a jug. Using a sieve to separate and mix your ingredients, transfer into a large mixing bowl. Use your fingers to rub in the margarine. You’re trying to get a softer-feeling, thicker-looking flour (similar to semolina)

Chuck in your other ingredients, from the yeast through to the egg-replacer and gradually add enough milk to form a soft (but not sticky) dough.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour, take your dough out of the bowl and knead for around 5-10 minutes, adding more flour when necessary to avoid sticking.

As with bread, the dough should become soft and elastic. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover with cling film or a damp tea towel.

Place in the warm (but off) oven and leave for two hours to double in size.

Once the dough has risen, sprinkle your work surface with some more flour, take out the dough and gently knead again. Mould into a rectangular shape, roughly 1cm (1/2″) thick.

Using your hands, roll the marzipan into a long (but shorter than the dough) tube shape. Lay the marzipan down the middle of the dough and fold over to enclose – like how you’d make a spring roll. Tuck in the ends and place the stollen onto a lightly oiled baking tray, sealed side down. Cover with a damp tea towel, return to the warm oven and leave to rise again for about 45 minutes.

Remove the stollen and heat your oven to 175C / 350F. Once heated, return your stollen to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Leave your stollen to cool and dust with icing sugar.

Serves 12

=)

Now, unlike my stollen, I did ad-lib on the marzipan. This recipe may not be perfect but it certainly is delicious!

Marzipan

100g ground almonds
125g icing sugar
1tsp vegan glycerine
water
flour
1tsp almond extract

Combine the ground almonds and sugar. Add the glycerine and just enough water to bind the ingredients. If you add too much, do not worry – just add some flour to firm it up a bit. Once you have the desired consistency, add the almond extract, mix and place in the fridge for 1 hour.

Makes enough for 1 stollen.

=)

Enjoy!