You'll love these simple recipes.

Christmas is a few days away and who wouldn't want to impress their guests with some traditional sweet German Christmas bread!

For those of you who are looking for some old fashioned recipes, these breads won't let you down.

Panettone bread

Ingredients:

• 225 gm butter
• 150 gm sugar
• 4 eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• 1000 gm flour
• 150 gm yeast
• 15 gm salt 
• 20 gm improver
• 500 ml milk
• 300 gm tutti frutti
• 5 ml vanilla essence
• 100 gm orange peel
• 100 gm soaked fruits
• 3 gm lemon zest

Method:

• Cream the butter, sugar and eggs till fluffy and then add flour, yeast, salt, improver, milk, vanilla essence and mix well. 
• Add soaked fruits, lemon zest, orange peel and tutti frutti. Mix again and bake in panettone moulds at 180°C. 

Stollen bread

Ingredients: 

• 80 gm flour
• 25 gm yeast (mix together with the flour and make a sourdough starter for the bread)
• 68 ml milk
• 40 gm butter
• 25 gm sugar
• 20 gm marzipan
• 27 eggs
• 120 gm flour
• 3 gm salt
• 5 ml vanilla essence
• 180 gm soaked fruits
• 2 gm lemon zest

Method:

• Cream the butter, sugar, eggs, milk and marzipan till fluffy. 
• Add flour and salt to the mixture and mix well. 
• Add soaked fruits, lemon zest, vanilla essence and mix well. Bake at 180°C. 
• Once done, soak with melted desi ghee and dust with good amount of powdered sugar. 

Recipes by Sidharth Bhardwaj, Executive Chef, JW Marriott Mussoorie Walnut Grove Resort and Spa.