It’s Maundy Thursday so we’ve chosen a lovely Easter recipe to share today. In past years, we’ve made a hot cross loaf and simnel cupcakes – today it’s paasstol.
Paasstol is a traditional Dutch sweet bread eaten around Easter. For some reason, now lost in the mists of time, when the exact same bread is eaten at Christmastime, it’s referred to as kerststol.
It’s a yeasted loaf full of mixed, dried fruit with a log of almond paste or marzipan enveloped in the middle.
I used a combination of raisins, currants and sultanas. However, you can choose to add candied peel, dried cranberries or succade. People sometimes add chopped or nibbed nuts to the equation – the choice is yours!
To finish, brush the top generously with warm, melted butter and dust with icing sugar. To consume, slice whilst still warm, spread with even more butter and enjoy with a lovely cup of tea!
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- 100g/3½oz ground almonds
- 100g/3½oz icing sugar
- 1 large egg white
- 600g/21oz mixed dried fruit (I used raisins, currants and sultanas)
- 3tbsp dark rum
- 500g/18oz plain or strong bread flour
- 10g salt
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of ground cardamom
- 25g/1oz dried yeast
- 200ml/7 fl oz milk, lukewarm
- 100g/3½oz sugar
- 100g/3½oz melted butter
- 1 egg, beaten
- zest of ½ lemon
- melted butter to brush
- icing sugar to dredge
- Put the ground almonds, icing sugar and egg white into a food processor and, using the chopping blade attachment, combine for about a minute until a ball of marzipan is formed
- Cover in cling film and set aside while you make the dough
- Soak the dried fruit in the rum for at least an hour, stirring every so often so all the fruit comes into contact with the liquid
- In a measuring jug, stir the yeast into the lukewarm milk until dissolved.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, salt and sugar
- In another small measuring jug, mix the egg with the melted butter and lemon zest
- Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients and mix using the dough hook. Knead for 5-7 minutes on a low setting, until the mixture comes together to form a soft, smooth and slightly sticky ball of dough
- Cover the mixer bowl with a damp tea towel or cling film/plastic bag and leave in a warm place to prove for half an hour
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle
- Discarding any rum that hasn't been absorbed, sprinkle the soaked fruit evenly across the dough
- Roll the dough up and gently knead by hand for about 5 minutes until the fruit is evenly distributed throughout
- Put the fruited dough back into the mixer bowl, recover with the damp tea towel or cling film/plastic bag and leave in a warm place to prove for a further hour
- After rising, turn the dough out onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper
- Form the dough into a rectangle about 3cm thick
- Shape the almond paste into a log around 1cm shorter than the rectangle of dough
- Place the almond paste log in the centre of the dough and fold all four sides of the dough over. Roll gently back and forth to seal the edges
- Recover with the damp tea towel or cling film/plastic bag and allow to rise for another half an hour
- Brush the bread with milk and put it in a preheated oven at 180ºC/ºF/Gas mark
- Bake for 40 minutes
- Allow to cool on a wire rack
- Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with the icing sugar
- Slice and serve