November 21, 2024 The coziest winter dessert is back for Christmas By Metropolis For decades, the quintessential Japanese Christmas dinner has been Kentucky Fried Chicken with a strawberry shortcake for dessert. In recent years, however, the paradigm may be shifting. The snow-white strawberry cakes have faced an unexpected competitor: meet the Stollen , her dumpy, powdery cousin.
In this article, we cover all the best stollen in Tokyo for Christmas 2024. A German-born Christmas dessert, stollen is a naturally fermented sweet bread with nearly 700 years of history. Filled with butter, dried fruits, nuts, spices, and rum, it’s dusted with white sugar to imitate a blanket-wrapped baby Jesus.
You might also enjoy: A brief history of Japanese cheesecake For this reason, Stollen is traditionally eaten during the advent season—the 4 weeks leading to Christmas—sliced a little at a time to enjoy the changing flavors as the fermentation deepens. It’s also a versatile dessert; you can smear a dab of cream cheese and jam, or pair it with ice cream. The first stollen in Japan was sold in 1969 by Chidori-ya , a traditional Japanese sweets shop in Fukuoka.
Its recent popularity, however, can be traced back to the Aoyama Bread Festival, which, since 2014, has held tasting events with stollens from more than 25 different bakeries. Today, they are quickly becoming the nation’s Christmas sweetheart. Whether you’re a seasoned stollen-lover or your first time hearing about it, check o.