Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Soak the dried cherries in cherry brandy for about 2 hours.

Mix together flour, salt, sugar, and yeast.

Melt butter, add milk and pour into dry mixture.

Knead until a shiny dough forms. Cover with a dishtowel and leave for 30 minutes.

Drain dried fruit. reserve the liquid for baking or to use in cocktails if you wish.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.

Evenly sprinkle the brandy infused dried fruit and chopped cashews over the dough them, fold and knead them into the dough.

Let rise for 15 minutes.

If you want to tint the marzipan, do it now, adding a few drops of food coloring at a time.

Divide the dough in half. Divide the marzipan in half. I pressed each piece of marzipan separately into a 2+1/2 inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to shape it.

Divide each dough half in half again.

Pat out each half until it is bigger than the marzipan heart.

Place the marzipan heart on one half. Lay the marzipan heart on top in the center.

Cover with the other dough pieces and use your hands to shape the entire piece into a heart.

Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the other half.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and brush it over the stollen.

Place them in the oven and Bake for 25 minutes or until they turn golden around the edges.

Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack. Place the wire rack back over the parchment lined baking sheet.

Melt the remaining butter if it has solidified.

While the stollen is still warm, brush the tops and sides of each stollen heart with butter and then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Plate and cut on the diagonal when serving.