Stollen imported (but not stolen) from Germany.
That was funny, and you know it.
Ok, enough dad jokes. Aldi is nearly famous for their seasonal holiday stollen, so I was obligated to buy a loaf. I take my obligations seriously. There are a few different varieties available — including “Marzipan” and “Butter Almond,” but I chose the “Cherry Stollen.”
Although not particularly large, the stollen is heavy. It’s a chonky fellow. The crust is coated in an almost bizarrely thick layer of flour. Well, I think it’s flour? Probably this white stuff is flour?
Whatever it is, there’s a blizzard of it. And it’s messy. I would be happier without this white powdery stuff everywhere. But no one asked me.
Probably as close to a “winter wonderland” as we’ll get here in balmy Florida.
There is marzipan filling inside this stollen, but the first two inches on either end did not reveal any — it’s concentrated more towards the center of the loaf. The marzipan is soft and gooey with a lush almond flavor. The amount of marzipan per slice is just a coy sample.
One of my friends called it “a Scrooge-ish amount” of marzipan. Hey, anti-heroes are also part of the Christmas spirit, you know?
As you can see, most of the fruit is dark raisins, but there is also orange and lemon peel, almonds, and a few pieces of cherry. I found maybe one or two cherry fragments per slice. The ingredients also list “cherry brandy” — there’s a pleasant-but-subtle fruity flavor present.
I would describe the stollen texture as dense, but soft. It’s only lightly sweet — most of the sweetness is in the fruit or marzipan. This is yeasted dough, but it isn’t fluffy like bread as much as rich like a cinnamon roll. Although it is fruity, it is no where near as dense as a traditional fruitcake. It’s a bit like a “richer” raisin bread.
These are petite slices, so they make an appropriate treat for afternoon tea or a breakfast buffet spread. Or, in my case, a late-night-guilty-snacktastic-noshing fest.
How to Serve Aldi Cherry Stollen
I tried serving this three different ways:
- Microwaved for 10 seconds to warm
- Toasting slices in a toaster oven for 3-5 minutes
- Room temperature
Of the three serving methods, I preferred #3 — room temperature (I know, this surprised me, too!). Because I stored my stollen in the refrigerator, I sliced one serving at a time and let it sit on a plate for about an hour to reach room temperature before eating. I personally liked the firmer texture, and thought the fruit tasted better when not warm.
Microwaving was my least favorite option — even though I found quite a few Aldi fans on the internet promoting this method. The stollen tasted too mushy and excessively soft after microwaving — it just didn’t have any structure, and the fruit was unpleasantly squishy.
Toasting slices in my toaster oven was OK — the stollen got nicely crisp and slightly browned on top — but the fats in the bread and marzipan seemed to ooze out onto the plate and separate from the rest of the stollen. The white powdering crust-coating turned all weird and gummy from the oil ooze. I also tried buttering my toasted stollen, and this was “OK.” But not amazing.
I did think the actual marzipan flavor was improved after heating, but I had to be very careful not to burn my tongue, as it tended to stay molten for a while. Molten Marzipan. Sounds like a band name.
What I did not try is re-baking the whole loaf before slicing and serving. If I was serving the stollen to a group of guests, I might do that to make it taste fresher and give it a crisper crust. IDK. We need more research. If you’ve already tried this, let me know how it turned out.
Sadly, there aren’t any instructions on the package for how to serve or eat this.
Ingredients in Aldi Winternacht Cherry Stollen
Oh, what sorrows exist in these ingredients. Hydrogenated fat. Preservatives. At least there are no artificial flavors or colors listed. Raisins and almonds are featured prominently. I love that there are juice concentrates used for natural coloring.
Here are the ingredients:
- Wheat Flour
- Raisins
- Sugar
- Almonds
- Palm Fat
- Glucose-Fructose Syrup
- Cherries
- Dextrose
- Cherry Brandy
- Rapeseed Oil
- Sorbitol
- Orange Peels
- Wheat Starch
- Lemon Peels
- Yeast
- Mono-and-Diglycerides of Fatty Acids
- Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate
- Salt
- Natural Flavoring
- Fully Hydrogenated Palm Fat
- Juice Concentrates for Color (Carrot, Radish, Sweet Potato, Cherry, Apple, Aronia)
This stollen is imported (but not stolen) from Germany.
Nutrition Facts
For not tasting very sweet, this stollen packs a LOT of sugar per serving! Yikes. The label says there are 30 grams of sugar per serving, with 19 of those being “added sugar.” That’s way more than I expected. With 320 calories per serving, this is a calorie-dense snack. Fortunately, there’s also a smattering of fiber, with 3 grams, and a little protein, at 4 grams. I don’t mind the 12 grams of fat — for me, this will help my sugars digest more slowly and reduce sugar spiking.
Price and Shelf-life
Aldi’s stollen costs $6.99 for a 28.2 ounce package. With ten servings per loaf, each serving costs 70 cents. I found the holiday stollen in stock around November and December.
The expiration date on my package allowed me approximately 6 months to consume.
Would I buy this stollen again? Meh. Not sure. I don’t hate it, but I’m not sure it was worth the seven bucks.
More Reviews of Holiday Foods You Might Like (or Hate)
Check out these other reviews of Holiday foods I’ve recently written:
- Cracker Barrel Thanksgiving Turkey Feast
- Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake
- The Fresh Market Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Costco Pumpkin Spice Loaf Cake
- Aldi Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cheesecake
- Costco Pumpkin Pie
- Aldi Soft Gingerbread (Winternacht)
- Costco Pecan Pie
Author’s note: I have no affiliation with Aldi, and I was not compensated in any way for this review.
