Christmas Stollen

Ok, so my ethnic tradition would demand that I make panettone for Christmas, but I'm not ready to make that leap just yet, so I made a Christmas stollen today.  It should have been made at least a month ago to age properly, but what the heck, I decided to go for it anyway.  The recipe is from Peter Reinhart's book The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  I made up some almond paste by grinding some almonds and adding confectioner's sugar and light Karo syrup to make a paste.  Here's the result -