Stollen bread was reportedly created around Dresden, Germany in 1329.
Maybe it was part of President Donald Trump's ongoing campaign to end the "war on Christmas," freeing up believers to openly extol the virtues of stollen bread without fear of running afoul of fruitcake hate groups.
Or maybe it was just another presidential typo, the latest in a long line that includes covfefe, hamberders and "lasting peach."
Whatever the case, Trump on Sunday was responding to a tweet from Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the famous Southern Baptist pastor and president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, who suggested the president should have two years added to his first term as "pay back for time stolen by this corrupt failed coup." The term "failed coup" was a reference to special counsel Robert Mueller's two-year investigation.
Falwell wrote:
"After the best week ever for @realDonaldTrump - no obstruction, no collusion, NYT admits @BarackObama did spy on his campaign, & the economy is soaring. I now support reparations-Trump should have 2 yrs added to his 1st term as pay back for time stolen by this corrupt failed coup"
In a Sunday afternoon tweet that he later deleted, Trump wrote, "Despite the tremendous success that I have had as President, including perhaps the greatest ECONOMY and most successful first two years of any President in history, they have stollen two years of my (our) Presidency (Collusion Delusion) that we will never be able to get back. . ..." He later reposted the tweet without the typo.
The misspelling sent readers back to 14th-century Germany, where stollen bread was reportedly created around Dresden in 1329. Despite its inclusion of raisins, citron and butter, stollen apparently assumed a more ascetic persona during Lent, the 40 days when Christians may fast or make other sacrifices. During Lent, bakers, it seems, were required to use only flour, oats and water to make stollen. But as the treat became associated with the Christmas holidays, stollen reverted to its original form as a yeasted bread laced with candied fruit and spices.
The term "stollen" is derived from the German word for "tunnel," specifically to the type of man-made tunnels carved into the earth. The area around Dresden has historically been mining country.
But for the president, his "stollen" tweet turned into another kind of mine - a minefield of ridicule.
"At first, I thought you were talking about Stollen, the delicious German bread we eat at Christmas. Then I remembered that you're an uneducated potato who can't spell. My mistake."
- Heidi Martin (@HMS_Terror) May 6, 2019
"So, this is his Presidency? @realDonaldTrump Stollen is a fruit bread of nuts, spices, and dried or candied fruit, coated with powdered sugar or icing sugar.
"I hear it's great served with covfefe."
- Mary L Take (@MaryLTake) May 5, 2019
"Here's your Stollen; German fruit and nut bread. That definitely sounds like your first two years of your Republican owned government."
- David Stredwick (@FionnthePiper) May 6, 2019
In a December 2017 essay for The Washington Post, food writer Kristen Hartke recalled her own sweet, buttery memories of stollen on Christmas morning, a slice of which was as perfect as any gift under the tree. Hartke wrote:
"Tiptoeing out of my bedroom just after sunrise, I would find the stollen waiting on the kitchen counter, snowcapped with a light coating of powdered sugar. My Christmas morning taste memories often revolve around toasting thick slabs of it, liberally slathering them in salted butter and dusting them with cinnamon sugar. Late in the morning, after a couple cups of coffee, my mom might fry up bacon and corn cakes - my dad's favorite breakfast. But the stollen was always the star."
One of the keys to stollen, Hartke learned, is to prepare it in advance. With more than 230 days until Christmas, it's a tad too early to bake stollen and freeze it for the holidays. But you could make some now and post a photo on Twitter, perhaps as a reminder to the president that things lost are not always stollen.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)