Vegan Stollen Bars
Vegan stollen bars – these easy vegan stollen bites are based on German quark stollen and are made without yeast, meaning that they are quick and easy to make. They are rich, moist, dense and packed with marzipan, fruit, nuts and warming spices.
Servings 18 bars
Ingredients
- 300 g (10 oz) marzipan
- 175 g (¾ cup + 2 Tbsp) caster (superfine) sugar
- 125 g (½ cup) THICK vegan yogurt (I use the Coconut Collaborative)
- 90 g (6 Tbsp) vegan block butter/margarine (ideally NOT the spreadable kind. I use Naturli vegan block) melted
- 2 teaspoon orange extract (or grated zest of 1 orange or use vanilla extract) (optional)
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon glycerine (optional)
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice (pumpkin spice)
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 75 g (2 ¾ oz) ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 60 g (2 oz) dried cranberries
- 60 g (2 oz) sultanas or raisins
- 100 g (3 ½ oz) pistachios (or other nuts) roughly chopped
- 250 g (2 cups) white bread flour
To Finish:
- 30 g (2 Tbsp) vegan butter (plus extra before serving) melted
- icing (powdered) sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease a 20 cm / 8 inch square cake tin and line it with baking parchment.
- Chop the marzipan into 1-2 cm dice, spread it out on a tray and pop it in the freezer while you get on with making the dough.
- Whisk together the caster sugar, melted vegan block butter, non-dairy yogurt, orange extract, almond extract, glycerine, mixed spice, ground cardamom and salt in a large bowl until well combined.
- Whisk in the ground almonds and baking powder then stir through the dried cranberries, sultanas and roughly chopped pistachios.
- Add the bread flour and stir until it is well combined and no dry paches remain, it should be a very soft dough or extremely thick batter consistency. Fold through the frozen marzipan.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared tin and spread it out firmly and evenly, pressing it right into the corners. If you are struggling to do this, you may find it easier to wet your hands and spread it out by hand.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, until it is golden brown and firmish to the touch. If you can find a spot without any marzipan then a skewer should come out clean. Bear in mind that if it goes into a piece of marzipan it will come out sticky however so it is a bit tricky to judge!
- Leave the stollen to cool in the tin for 20 minutes then brush it very generously with the melted butter. It may look like too much butter but keep going and use all of it! It helps to keep the stollen moist.
- Leave the stollen to cool in the tin completely then wrap it tightly in tin foil and store at cool room temperature.
- When you are ready to serve it, brush the stollen with a bit more melted butter and dust it with a thick layer of icing sugar before using a sharp knife to slice it into bars or squares.
Notes
- For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
- I have only tested the recipe with the exact ingredients mentioned. Substitute them at your own risk.
- It can be a bit tricky to tell when the vegan stollen bars are baked as they contain so much marzipan – if you insert a skewer it may come out sticky with marzipan even if the bars are baked. If you are able to find a spot without marzipan then a skewer should come out clean when they are ready. Otherwise, they should be golden on top and firmish to the touch. They will firm up further as they cool.
- I like them sliced into bars but you can also cut them into small squares which would be great as finger food for parties. This recipe will make 18 bars or up to 36 squares.