I wasn't going to bake this weekend because I made some 'San Jooaquin Sourdough' with flax and sunflower seeds during the week. Last night my wife mentioned seeing a recipe for Stollen in the latest Martha Stewart magazine and I have noticed a number of TFL posts on Stollen lately . I recalled seeing  recipes in BBA and also Crust so I drug them out and compared ingredients and decided to go with Reinhart. I have made his cinammon raisin bread twice before, it was a big hit, so I decided as long as I'm going to spend the day I might as well do it in a big way. I've never made Stollen before but I decided to triple the batch and make some Raisin bread. My wife said she had some little containers that would work for the Stollen for smaller gifts, so I divided 4- 5oz. pieces out. One of the other recent posts mentioned not being able to understand Peter's directions for folding the dough before baking, I agree, I was clueless. Yesterday there was a link to a grandmother making Stollen on a video and she just folded it over, it is supposed to represent the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths. Good enough for me. I iced the Stollen I put in the small loaf pans and powdered sugared the big ones. Instead of candied fruit I used Sunmaid's raisin/cranberry/golden rasins, dried apricots and dried cherries. Reinhart also gives lemon and orange zest as an option. I used Penzeys Spices' California Minced Lemon and Orange Peel. All I can say is 'WOW', what a burst of flavor when you bite into a piece, couldn't quit 'till I had four.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Baking,

Steve