SHROVE TUESDAY – THE SWEDISH SEMLOR

So, today its once again one strange Swedish tradition to celebrate; Shrove Tuesday! Or as we swedes call it; Fettisdagen. For some of you this day is actually known for eating pancakes, or as the “international pancake day”. But here in Sweden (and in most scandinavian countries, we eat a semla instead). This wonderful cream filled bun have a long history in Scandinavia but it has its origin in the lent before easter. Also it made itself popular after WW2 when the access to sugar, milk and cream once again were available.

Its said that our King Adolf Fredrik died on Shrove Tuesday (in Sweden its actually called “Fat Tuesday”) 1771 after eating a massive meal of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, champagne (and the list goes on…). And 14 semlor. Yes. 14 of them.

My recipe contains raspberry jam instead of almond paste as the original recipe because of two reasons; I like it better this way and I know that a good substitute for our almond paste is hard to find elsewhere.

You’ll need this;
75 g butter
300 ml milk
10 g dried yeast
0,5 tsp salt
55g sugar
1 tsp ground cardamon
500 g plain flour
1 egg

Filling
Raspberry jam
Whipping cream
Icing sugar

Do this
Melt the butter in a medium pan. Add the milk and bring it up to 37 degrees. Remove from the heat. Mix in the yeast.

Combine salt, sugar, cardamom and 400 g in bowl. Add in the egg and milk and knead the dough well (about 10 min), it should still be sticky (if its impossible sticky, add in some more flour but try to avoid it). Leave the dough to rise covered with a kitchen towel for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line two baking trays with baking paper and with the dough, on a flour-dusted surface – form 10 equally sized buns and place them onto the baking tray. Allow to rise for 30-40 min under a kitchen towel. 

Bake for around 7-10 min or they are golden on the top and bottom. Allow to cool down on a wire rack under a kitchen towel (they dry out quickly).

Whist the whipping cream until soft peaks. When the buns are completely cold, cut a triangle shaped “lid” out of the top of the bun. Then scoop out some of the inside to make a hole for the raspberry jam, after the jam pipe a nice circle of cream over and around. Attach the triangle-lid and dust with icing sugar. Best served with a ice-cold glass of milk.