Apricot & marzipan twist

Paul Hollywood’s almond and apricot ‘couronne’ is crammed with fruit and nuts and is a great alternative to stollen

  • Cook:30 mins
    45 mins + overnight soaking and rising
  • Serves 12
  • More effort

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 418
  • fat 17g
  • saturates 7g
  • carbs 64g
  • sugars 46g
  • fibre 2g
  • protein 6g
  • salt 0.49g

Ingredients

  • 250g strong white bread flour
  • 50g unsalted butter, softened
  • 150ml whole milk
  • 10g fast-action dried yeast
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 120g dried apricots, chopped
  • 150ml orange juice
  • 90g unsalted butter
  • 70g light muscovado sugar
  • 35g plain flour
  • 60g raisins
  • 65g chopped walnuts
  • grated zest 1 orange
  • 200g marzipan
  • 50g apricot jam
  • 200g icing sugar, mixed with enough water to make a runny icing

Method

  1. The night before, put apricots and orange juice in a bowl and set aside.

  2. To make the dough, put flour, 1 tsp salt, butter, milk, yeast and egg in a bowl, and mix together to form a dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 6 mins.

  3. Transfer dough to a mixing bowl. Cover, then set aside to rise in a warm place for 1 hr.

  4. Meanwhile, drain the apricots. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and muscovado sugar until fluffy. Mix in the apricots, flour, raisins, walnuts and orange zest.

  5. Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it out to a rectangle, about 25 x 33cm. Evenly spread over the apricot mix, then roll out the marzipan and lay it on top. Roll up the rectangle tightly so it looks like a Swiss roll. Roll slightly, then cut lengthways along the roll, leaving 1 end joined. Twist 2 lengths together, then shape into a ring on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Set aside to rise for 1 hr.

  6. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Bake the twist for 30 mins until risen and dark golden. Towards the end of the baking time, gently warm the apricot jam in a small pan. Brush the freshly baked loaf with the warm jam to glaze it, then set it aside to cool. Once cooled, drizzle the twist heavily with the runny icing.

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