i went ahead with floridagirl's stollen recipe in urmaniac13's link above, although i made a few minor changes due to having or not having some ingredients at hand. it's quite good! heartily endorsed!
the minor alterations i made were in the fruit and almond paste departments.
i keep a large glass jar (about 1/2 gallon?) of dried fruits soaked in brandy that i use for fruitcakes, panettone, etc. it generally has about equal amounts of candied lemon peel, candied orange peel, dried cranberries and vine fruits like sultanas or currants. from time to time other fruits like pineapple, papaya or mango, persimmon, etc. creep in. i used about a pound of soaked fruit in all.
although i had almonds on hand, being the lazy kind of guy i am, i didn't feel like getting out the grinder and bringing some sugar to the softball stage to make almond paste for the middle. nor did i feel like taking the train for an hour and a half one-way to get some. what i
did use was some pecans to go into the dough, and some marron glace (candied chestnuts)which i had just been given, for the center. mooshed (sorry for the obscure technical term) between the fingers, the texture is quite similar to almond paste. this was a great hit, as substitues go.
i was thinking that the recipe would make 2 stollen, but i wound up with 3 large ones.
therefore, i was
forced to start in on one while it was still warm from the oven.
wow!