One of the easiest gifts to give that has a life long  benefit is  giving one of our cooking  class gift certificates where  the participants learn the health benefits of chiles, learn time-saving techniques and  the real joy of cooking.  Our "Take A Tortilla And...." class for January 10 is sold out,  however we have added  a repeat of the same class for January 17.  We have several other individual classes, weekend classes, and our weeklong class.

All of our scheduled classes are on sale at 20% off until December 24, so be sure to register now or purchase a gift certificate by calling us at 505-243-2622.

We also have our very special Oaxacan Culinary tour which is so much fun and a great learning experience.  Included in the tour  are three hands on cooking classes, tours of pottery and wood carving villages,  a tour of Monte Alban often considered one of the wonders of ancient times and very special chef dinners.

If you are near Albuquerque, Saturday December 22, come by the Treasure House in Old Town Albuquerque where I will be signing my cookbooks from 1 to 3 PM and offering freshly baked bizcochitos.  The Treasure House is at 2012 South Plaza. 

For many, many years I have made a very special and delicious stollen for Christmas morning to be served with champagne while opening gifts.  I worked to perfect the recipe and I bake 2 stollens every other year.  I freeze one and serve one.  So every other year, such as this year I  will have one already made.

Here's the recipe--

STOLLEN

The best of all stollens—I worked on this recipe for years and feel it is well worth the extra effort. For years I’ve been making a recipe every other year for serving on Christmas morning with champagne.

Temperature: 325 F

Baking time: 1 hour

Yield: 2 large loaves

¾ cup unsalted butter

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon mace (if you do not have mace, substitute more nutmeg)

Grated rind of 1 lemon

Grated rind of ½ orange

2 eggs

¼ cup dark rum, brandy or sherry

1 cup milk 1 package active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

6 cups all-purpose flour, approximately

1 cup raisins

1 cup currants (if unavailable, substitute more raisins)

¼ pound each candied orange peel, lemon peel, and citron

1 slice candied pineapple

1 cup toasted almonds1 ½ pound candied whole red and green cherries

¼ cup melted butter

Powdered sugar

1.  Cream butter, add sugar gradually and cream until fluffy. Blend in salt, nutmeg, mace, lemon and orange rind.
2. . Add eggs. One at a time, beating well after each addition. Add liquor and milk.
3. Soften yeast in water and stir into mixture. Add flour until dough is easy to handle. Turn out on a lightly floured board and knead until the dough is satin smooth and the gluten is well developed.
4.  Do not add more than ½ cup flour into the dough while kneading as too much flour will make the bread dry and coarse.
5. Mix together all fruit except cherries, then dredge with ¼ cup flour, making sure each piece is covered.
6. When the dough is smooth, add the fruit and almonds, a small amount at a time, until the fruit is spread throughout the dough and all is used.
7.  Poke holes in the dough with your forefinger and place a cherry in each hole. This prevents mashing the cherries.
8.  Divide the dough in half and place in large well-greased bowls; brush generously with melted butter and set a warm place to rise. Since the dough is heavy with fruit, it will require about 8 hours to rise.
9.  To form, turn out on a lightly floured board, punch down and divide in half. To make typical stollen or crescent shaped loaves, first pat the dough into an oblong shape, then fold in half lengthwise.
10.  Place loaves on a greased baking sheet; brush with butter and let rise until doubled.
11. Preheat oven to 325 F during last 10 minutes of rising. Bake for 1 hour, brush several times with melted butter as the loaves are baking. When baked, dust generously with powdered sugar just before serving. Serve warm.

Reprinted with permission from Jane Butel’s Freezer Cookbook