Photo coming soon
Beginner
French
Classic French Omelette
Source: Chef
10 min1300 kcal
VegetarianGluten-freeLow-carb+1
Semla
A cardamom bun with its top cut off, hollowed out, filled with almond paste and a mountain of whipped cream, and the lid set back on like a hat — eaten between Christmas and Easter.
Source
Recipe by Swedish konditori · 🏺 Traditional · Fika is not a coffee break, it is an institution — and the pastry it is built around is cardamom-scented, marzipan-topped and taken seriously.
Swedish · Fettisdagen bun — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. The cited article confirms the cardamom bun, the almond paste and whipped cream filling, the cut lid, the Shrove Tuesday tradition and the hetvägg milk-bowl version. Quantities and the return-the-crumb method are this book's own.
Watch it being made · 3 videos
⏱ 150 min🍽 10 servings🔥 420 kcal🇸🇪 Sweden
Vegetarian
Steps
Stir the yeast into the warm milk with a spoon of the sugar and leave 10 minutes until foaming.
Mix in the flour, rest of the sugar, egg, cardamom and salt, then knead 10 minutes, working in the butter a little at a time.
Prove 1 hour until doubled, then divide into 10 and roll each into a tight ball. Prove 45 minutes more on a tray.
Bake at 200°C for 12 minutes until just gold. Cool completely — filling a warm bun melts the cream instantly.
Cut a lid off each bun at an angle and scoop out the crumb. Mash the crumb with the almond paste and the 100 ml milk into a paste and spoon it back in.
💡 The scooped-out crumb goes back into the filling. Throwing it away is the most common mistake and it makes the filling dry and flat.
Whip the cream with the icing sugar to firm peaks, pipe it high over the filling, set the lid on top and dust with icing sugar.
💡 Tips
- Fettisdagen — Shrove Tuesday — is the official day, but Swedish bakeries now sell them from early January and everyone pretends to disapprove.
- Eat it the day it is made. Semlor go stale fast and the cream weeps into the bun overnight.
- Hetvägg is the old way: the whole thing sitting in a bowl of hot milk. It is better than it sounds.
You might also like
Share this recipe
Made this? Share a photo in Showcase.
Share your creation →