Best way to sub out high fat cream cheese

As far as I can determine, besides the fat, cream cheese seems to contribute a moistness and denseness to a cake crumb. There is actually very little info out there on what cream cheese contributes to a baked product. Perhaps some of the folks that bought "Modernist" could peruse that tome for any info.

If high fat cream cheese contributes moisture and density to a baked product, then I am going to create those characteristics using 2 ingredients-extra fat either butter or lard (the 50g the cream cheese would have contributed ) and mashed potato(an authentic ingredient for the source of the recipe). I had considered applesauce, tofu, beans, bananas, squash, avocado, sweet potato and settled on simple white potato. Every German household had that available.

Any additional thoughts or do I have a good handle on this?

This dough was very easy to make but it felt almost more like a cookie dough than a soda bread. I had to leave the ingredients for a while, unexpectedly, so when I came back to them they were all room temp. I decided to proceed anyways and that may have affected the texture. The fats were all soft. I expected more biscuit-like feel. I shaped them into 3 loaves that were about 3/4 inch tall. I took a picture but with all the powdered sugar there is not much to see. It did remind me of biscotti so my backup plan is to slice them and bake again if I don't like the texture as stollen!

So here is my work sheet in progress:

BAKING POWDER STOLLEN

Stollen (Baking Powder)

390F for 15 minutes then 350F for 25-35 minutes.

2-4 loaves

Mix dry ingredients together:

Combine together on a board or clean counter top. Make a dent in middle and add the following ingredients:

• ·        250g cream cheese 20% fat, no salt

Starting in the wet middle work with the fingers to mix, slowly adding the dry to form a dough. Knead but do not overwork.

Chop fine and fold into dough:

Shape into 3 or 4 small oval loaves and place on parchment paper in a baking sheet. Push any exposed fruit pieces back inside loaf.

 Bake (middle rack) 200°c (390°F) first 15 minutes turning down to 180°c (350°F) for 30 - 45 minutes. Remove when golden brown or toothpick comes clean. 

Brush hot loaves with plenty of butter allowing it to soak in. Dust with heavy blanket of powdered sugar. Allow to cool. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap. 

• one last ingredient: Rum, unknown quantitiy, used if dough seems too dry or drizzle over baked loaf before butter or offered in tea served with stollen. 

I will post about the texture when I cut one of them in a few days.

Love the "selfie"!

That is exactly what my dough looked like!  Will the texture be like a biscotti dough when I cut it? If my fats were colder, should it have come together more like scone/biscuit dough?

My husband has been asking about cutting into it already-the kitchen did smell divine! Is there a time to wait where it is at its best? Like rye bread? 2-3 days?

Actually, this is very similar to my biscotti base recipe-except for the higher amount of fat in the "Stollen".

Biscotti-Basic

Mix eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and extract of choice.

In separate, larger bowl, mix together:

Then mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

When well mixed, let dough sit for 10 minutes (improves handling).

• Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper-oil the parchment paper!
• Handle with either oiled or damp hands/spatula.
• Shape into a log in traditional shape (like a Quonset hut) of desired size.(2”x12”for small biscotti)-dough may spread slightly
• Top with nuts or sugar
• Bake 20-25 min in 350 oven. Gingerbread browns quicker than others.
• Cool to lukewarm
• Cut into ½ in slices (sharp serrated knife works best)-place on cooling rack on cookie sheet. Spritz with water lightly so edge doesn’t crumble-light touch on knife.
• Bake additional 6-10 min til dry and lightly browned-may need to turn over to do both sides.

Notes:

Butter makes them more cookie-like and crumbly.

No oil makes them rather hard-these are better for dunking

Because they are drier than cookies, they need higher amount of flavoring.

If they are being dunked, regular amounts of flavoring are recommended.

Flavor variations using basic dough

Other flavor suggestions:

Sesame-add some sesame oil and sesame seeds

Garam masala and coriander as a chai flavor

Pannetone flavor-add flower essence and orange (peels,zest,candied)

Parmesan Pepper as a savory

Cappucino with strong coffee(6 ?packets instant),cinnamon, cloves, choc chips and hazelnuts

Poppy seed or lemon poppy seed

Anise-traditional

Pink peppercorn-pistachio or pepita

Pepper-fennel

Triple Ginger (powdered ginger,fresh ginger and crystallized ginger (no other spices)(use gingerbread base)

 Happy Holidays!

Almost forgot! These are the last 3 pieces of 1 of the stollens (I made 3). The other 2 are wrapped and I am going to bring them out over the next few months to see how they age.

I will keep this recipe (with the "in development" modifications) and make it again. It is definitely NOT bread-like but more cakey-cookie like in texture or even like a 1 time baked biscotti-but still quite delicious and pleasing. What you cannot tell from a picture is that these are quite crumbly. They are easier eaten with fingers than a fork.

SO here is my corrected development sheet:

BAKING POWDER STOLLEN

Based on MiniOven’s recipe-The Fresh Loaf

Stollen (Baking Powder)

390F for 15 minutes then 350F for 25-35 minutes.

2-4 loaves (4 loaves are gift sized)

Mix dry ingredients together:

Combine together on a board or clean counter top. Make a dent in middle and add the following ingredients:

• 250g cream cheese 20% fat, no salt Replace with potato for non-dairy

Starting in the wet middle work with the fingers to mix, slowly adding the dry to form a dough. Knead but do not overwork.

Becomes a soft,rich cookie dough consistency

Chop fine and fold into dough:

Shape into 3 or 4 small oval loaves and place on parchment paper in a baking sheet. Push any exposed fruit pieces back inside loaf.

Bake (middle rack) 200°c (390°F) first 15 minutes turning down to 180°c (350°F) for 30 - 45 minutes. Remove when golden brown or toothpick comes clean and

Brush hot loaves with plenty of butter allowing it to soak in. Dust with heavy blanket of granulated sugar and then powdered sugar. Allow to cool. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.

• one last ingredient: Rum, unknown quantitiy, used if dough seems too dry or drizzle over baked loaf before butter or offered in tea served with stollen.