My first mother in law made schnitzbrot very similar to this and give loaves and loaves to friends and family. When she grew up, my daughter asked Grandma for the recipe. She refused to give her the recipe, as it was a secret recipe. So now we know.

I made this Christmas bread yesterday and love the flavor, but find it a bit heavy, I wonder if I added too much flour to the mix. Is the dough supposed to be sticky or firm like bread? Any thoughts or suggestions will be very welcome as this is a favorite treat from my childhood and would love to get the recipe right. Many thanks!

This recipe is very similar to my grandmothers, who imigrated from Germany in the late 1800's. Her dry ingredients included 2 c. of brown sugar; also figs and dates- both of which I don't put in. She included NO citron fruits however, which I think make it too much like that dreaded fruit cake! The dried fruits I use are apples, raisins, prunes, peaches and apricots - which make it outstanding. My mom would 'make' the prune juice by cooking the prunes in hot water, and add red wine to make a quart if short.

Hi Debi, yes you may, since butter is shortening. Enjoy!

May one use butter instead of "shortening"?
My grandma Deimling used to make schnitzbrot and soak all kinds of dried fruits for days before making breads .. red and yellow and green citron fruits

We are trying to make Schnitz bread like my grandma did at Christmas time too. This recipe is as close to hers as we have found. Grandma never wrote her recipe down, so we are experimenting and looking for what my Aunts remember from other recipes. We will add some of these instructions to what we have and see what we get. If you have any information on the background of this bread, I would love to hear it. I am trying to recreate the family traditions for my children. Thank You.