No Fat Tuesday without a Traditional Swedish semla (Fat Tuesday Bun)….

So this is where our opinions differ. Rosa’s and mine. Our opinion of what to eat on Fat Tuesday. Altough I’ve lived in Denmark for two decades – the only right thing for me on Fat Tuesday is a traditional Swedish semla. But if you ask Rosa, it’s the Danish fastelavnsbolle. Okay, I do agree that it’s an absolutely tasty and delicious pastry, but, just not as good as a Swedish Semla! 😉

A few years ago, most Danes probably shared Rosa’s opinion. At least it was completely impossible to get a hold of a Swedish Semla here in Copenhagen. I normally always bake my own, so it was never something I had thought about. But a few years ago during Fat Tuesday season, we were renovating our kitchen. And as is often the case with house renovation projects, they are never completed on time – wouldn’t it bee nice if renovation projects once in a while actually finished before time? Because of that, we didn’t have an oven for a LONG time – my brain has actually chosen to suppress exactly how long it was.

Oven or not, the kids and I did not want to miss out on a Semla! We went to countless cafes and bakeries in search of a Swedish Semla, but without any luck. So finally I gave up.

A couple of weeks later, after our “Semla hunt”, my oldest son and I were standing in the elevator at a hotel in Bangkok. Suddenly a large sign on the wall caught my eyes. It said: “Semla – The killer dessert – Now serving at the Lobby Bar”. Far, far away from home, the “Semla hunt” was finally over. 😅

Today (thank God) I do have an oven, but I have actually also found a place in Copenhagen that sell Semlor. And they don’t just sell ordinary Semlor – they have the most amazing Semlor imaginable. If you ever visit Copenhagen, I promise that a stop at Juno the Bakery won’t be a disappointment. And if  it’s not “Semla season” while you are here, you should try their deliciously good cardamom buns.

However, this recipe for Traditional Swedish Semlor is not bad either!

Recipe

You will need:

For the dough:
• 50g yeast
• 300ml milk
• 150 g butter, soft
• 1 egg
• 100ml sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp ground cardemom
• 600 g flour

For the filling:
• 300 g marzipan
• 150 g almonds chopped
• 1 tbsp ground cardamom
• 2 tbsp vanilla sugar
• 90g icing sugar
• 150 ml milk

• 500 ml heavy cream
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar

For decoration:
• Icing sugar

How to:

Make the dough:

  1. In a bowl of a stand mixer, crumble the yeast.
  2. Heat the milk till it gets finger-warm.
  3. Mix a little bit of the milk with yeast and make sure that yeast is dissolved.
  4. Add rest of milk, cardamom, sugar, egg, and half of the flour.
  5. Work the dough, using the dough hook in stand mixer for a couple of minutes.
  6. Add butter and rest of the flour and work the dough for another 6-8 minutes.
  7. Add salt the last minute. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
  8. Form balls of dough, about 60g, for each bun or 15g for each bun if you’re want use them for our Semmeltårta.
  9. Cover with a cloth and leave to rise for 60 minutes.
  10. Preheat the oven to 225C.
  11. Lightly brush buns with beaten egg.
  12. Bake in the middle of the oven, big buns for 8-10 minutes and small buns for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.

Make the filling:

  1. Mix all ingredients for the filling.
  2. Whisk the cream with vanilla sugar until light and fluffy.

Make the semla:

  1. Cut a lid of the top of each bun and remove some of the crumbs so that you get a hole for your filling.
  2. Fill each bun with almond filling.
  3. Use a piping bag to pipe the whipped cream on top of all buns.
  4. Replace the lid on top and sprinkle with icing sugar.