My first post at Just Baking

Stollen is a traditional German fruitcake made to celebrate the Christmas season. Although many recipes exist, the most famous is the Dresden Stollen ("Dresdner Weihnachtsstollen" in German). The city of Dresden is also where Stollen was first created in the 15th century and sold at the Striezelmarkt Christmas market. Originally called Striezel, the once folded over shape of the Stollen was meant to represent the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes. Later miners renamed it because they thought it looked like the opening to a mine or Stollen.

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Sources for Stollen:

• Wikipiedia article on Stollen
• Stollen recipe used in the Food Network show Sara's Secrets for the Holiday Breads episode
• Mimi Sheraton's Bio at Starchefs.com
• Dresden Stollen Festival - Link no longer valid
• An Open Letter to The Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate, 1520by Martin Luther (1520)Introduction and Translation by C. M. Jacobs
• German Embassy in Ottawa, Canada
• Photo from Rene Schwietzke
• Germany's Regional Recipes
• German Cookery: The Crown Classic Cookbook Series (Crown Classic Cookbook)
• The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook
• The German Cookbook: A Complete Guide to Mastering Authentic German Cooking

Interesting fact I couldn't fit into the article: Martin Luther refers to "butter-letters" in his writings at the start of the Protestant Reformation so the desire to improve the taste of Stollen actually had a tiny part in the Saxony's change from Catholicism to Protestantism.