Hi - a quick note on the type of yeast used in this recipe... I made these for gifts this past holiday season, and I used SAF Gold yeast. The dough proofed beautifully - even after working the fruit into it for the second rise. For my fruits I also used the fruitcake blend mentioned above, but also added 33% candied orange peel, 33% candied lemon peel and 25% crystallized ginger, then soaked it all in amaretto. I swapped the cardamom / nutmeg combination for 1 1/2 tsp of the Yuletide spice mix plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon. I made my own marzipan / almond paste according to the recipe shown above, but also added a traditional German twist of adding 1/2 tsp rose water to just scent the finished paste. The sugar coating was in two applications - the first was superfine sugar applied right after the butter while the stollen were still warm, and then a coating of the non-melting sugar after they had cooled completely. These were wrapped and shipped from Massachusetts to Texas in time for the holidays and were still in beautiful shape upon arrival, and were met with rave reviews. Will definitely be making this recipe as a regular on my holiday baking schedule from now on!

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