Vegan Stollen Bites (Gluten-Free)

These Vegan Stollen Bites are the best marzipan and fruit filled bread-style cookies that are perfect this festive season. They are easy to make, naturally vegan, gluten-free and will melt in your mouth.

Now, when December rolls around it is full on festive season and these stollen bites are the best way to welcome in the season, if you have not done so already. I have made these so many times already and they have been family, friend (and delivery driver) approved!

What are these Vegan Stollen Bites so delicious?

These bites are so good for all the family this season (even if you don’t particularly like stollen or marzipan like my mum and I):

• Fruity and spiced
• Sweet and nutty
• Slightly crisp on the outside
• Melt in the middle soft and crumbly inside
• Packed with dried fruits
• Easy to make in a few steps
• Naturally vegan and gluten-free
• A great edible gift for loved ones
• Delicious all year long

If you want to make these Vegan Stollen Bites already, skip down to the recipe card below or let’s take a look at the ingredients for these bready-cookies.

What ingredients make up these Vegan Stollen Bites?

• Plant-based milk: you can use any milk for this recipe and when combined with the lemon juice, the milk curdles to form a buttermilk to bind the batter.
• Lemon juice: or apple cider vinegar to curdle the milk as above.
• Vegan marzipan: this is a key part of the recipe and the part that makes these just like stollen in bite form. You can find marzipan in most shops and it should be just almonds and sugar but watch out for non-vegan ones with added dairy or milk products (I use the one from Koro online and save 5% on all orders with code Nourishing5).
• Self-raising flour: this keeps these bites the bready texture like typical stollen while also being a bit cookie-like. If you are using gluten-free flour, make sure this is GF self-raising blend that you like as all blends and brands vary.
• Baking powder: for a little extra rise.
• Vegan butter: make sure the butter is cold for best results, as you would with pastry mix. Add this to a blender and blitz with the flour to form a crumbly mix. This is better than vegan margarine or coconut oil but I am sure they will work.
• Vanilla and almond essence: this is important for adding the sweet almond-y flavour that is typical of marzipan and stollen. If you don’t have almond essence, just double the vanilla essence but these won’t taste as almond-y.
• Applesauce or mashed banana: this works as an excellent egg replacer. It adds some moisture and fluffiness to the batter while working to bind all the ingredients.
• Caster sugar: or other sugar will also work like coconut or golden caster or granulated sugar. I would not use brown sugar for this is as the flavour is quite strong.
• Mixed dried fruits with peel: you can easily find these in the shops and I love the variety you get like currants, raisins, sultanas, cranberries and orange peel. You can also make up your own mix, just chop all the dried fruits fairly small (like a raisin size).

Method wise, this recipe for Vegan Stollen Bites may surprise you but it works every time.

What steps are involved in making these bites?

• Step one: mix the plant milk and lemon juice together.
• Step two: grate the marzipan. This enables it to evenly disperse throughout the batter, so every mouthful has marzipan inside.
• Step two: blitz or crumble together the flour, baking powder and butter.
• Step four: mix together the rest of the wet ingredients with the “buttermilk”.
• Step six: add in all the dry ingredients and the fruit and stir to a sticky wet batter.
• Step seven: scoop, shape and bake till golden at the edges and smelling amazing.

How can I make these perfect? Tips and tricks, please!

These are very easy to make, but please do read through the full recipe before starting so you know which products are mixed in and how. The batter is wet, but this is how it is supposed to be. When you scoop the batter onto the trays, then use floured hands to gently shape them into balls or oval shapes so they bake evenly. Then a dusting of icing sugar (or drizzle of chocolate) is all you need.

Are these Vegan Stollen Bites gluten-free and nut-free?

Unless you can find a seed-based marzipan, these are not nut-free but they are naturally gluten-free when using gluten-free flour.

How long do these last?

The first time I made these, all 24 bites had disappeared in 24 hours but they do keep well as they are soft and tender, so they will last about 5 days in a sealed container. You can try freezing them once baked and cooled but the texture is better when fresh.

If you are loving these Vegan Stollen Bites and want to bake some more festive bakes, how about my:

• Mince Pie Apple Crumble
• Vegan Chocolate Star Bread
• Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Panettone
• Easy Vegan Christmas Cake 3 Ways
• Hidden Gingerbread Banana Bread

I hope you will love this recipe for Vegan Stollen Bites and I look forward to hearing what you think of them. Please let me know in the comments below and if you do make these bites, I’d love to see them so please tag me in your creations – I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With mini stollen love x