Hej mina svenska vänner! Semla was traditionally eaten the day before Lent, the Christian fasting period, but it wasn’t always available freely even within that window. In fact, from the 1930s right up until the 1960s, it was actually illegal in Sweden to sell semlor outside of Fettisdagen itself, so being able to enjoy them year-round today is a relatively recent freedom.
They consist of a cardamom “brioche” bread filled with marzipan and topped with a generous portion of whipped cream, a combination that’s stayed pretty much unchanged since Swedes started adding almond paste and cream to the once-plain bun centuries ago.
(Experiment 7)Semlor buns
Ingredients
Buns
- 125 g milk
- 6 g active dry yeast
- 20 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 250 g bread flour
- 40 g butter melted
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom if you like cardamon, add a bit more
Filling
- ~50g marzipan see my recipe here, you can do half the recipe
- 3-5 tbps milk
Cream
- heavy cream 35%
- sugar
- vanilla extract
Instructions
- Put the milk in a glass container and warm it in the microwave for about 25 seconds. This should bring its temperature around 100F. Add the yeast, stir and let it bloom for 5-10 minutes. In a stand mixer bowl, put the yeast mix, 1 egg, half the flour, sugar, cardamom and butter. When it’s combined, stop the stand mixer and touch the dough, what you are looking for is a tacky feel (slightly sticky). At this stage it should still be very wet, add more flour and knead for another 1-2 minutes. Repeat until you have the right texture, note you *may* need to add a bit more than 250g. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap for 60 minutes
- Place the dough on your countertop and divide it into 6 pieces. Make balls out of them. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes. Wisk the second egg in a bowl and add a little bit of water. Using a brush, brush the top of the bun with the egg wash. Bake at 400F for 12 minutes. Once baked take them out of the oven and cover with a damp towel. This will prevent them from forming a hard crust.
- Once cooled, cut the top of the bun and reserve. Using a spoon empty about 1/3 of the buns. Keep the inside as we will use it for the filling.
- Combine the marzipan with the milk and the inside of the bread you just took. Refill each of the buns with marzipan paste. If your marzipan is a bit stiff, use a grate to make little chunks. For the whipped cream, put the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a stand mixer bowl and whisk until you get some nice peaks. You can use a piping bag to put the whipping cream on top of the buns with the marzipan.
- Complete by putting back the cap on the bun and dust with icing sugar.
Notes
optional: dust with icing sugar
CassacassaMay 9, 2023
Its so tiny and cute!