The Venerable Stollen
The Stollen that is prevalent in the USA is a style known as Dresden Stollen, named for the capital city of Saxony, near the Czech border, where it was created in the 14th century. As the royal residence, Dresden was a center for art and culture. Whenever you had royalty, you have the top bakers nearby aiming to impress, which morphed into the Bakery Guild of Dresden, the keepers of the tradition of the Stollen.
The special occasion bread is loaded with butter, sugar, raisins, and citron, but it wasn’t always so rich and yummy. Known originally as striezel, it contained no butter or milk.