2016-02-07

Fat Tuesday


Hello all you lovely people.
Tuesday the 9th of February, is Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday also known as Mardi Gras. In Swedish we call it Fettisdag (= Fat Tuesday). Historically it's a day where you gorge before the beginning of fasting. But in Sweden it is nowadays mostly celebrated by eating the pastry known as Semla.



A semla is a delicious thing. The flavours are so balanced and go so well together. It really is a masterpiece in my opinion, and I wouldn't change anything about it.




Let me tell you what a semla actually is. It is a yeast-proven dough with cardamom made into buns. Once cooled, the buns are cut at the top, to form something like a lid. The insides of the bun is emptied (not completely, the actual bun is very tasty too, so you ought to leave quite a bit of it). The empty "well" that is created is filled with almond paste. Whipped cream is piped on top of the bun, and then the lid is placed back before dusting it with powdered sugar.

And let me tell you this, a semla really is a sweet piece of heaven.




Semla


INGREDIENTS

  • 50 g butter
  • 1,5 dl milk
  • 25 g yeast
  • 1/2 dl sugar
  • 1 small egg + extra for egg wash
  • 1 teaspoon cardamom
  • 2 ml ammonium bicarbonate (can be omitted)
  • 5 dl flour
  • 200 g almond paste
  • 5 dl whipping cream
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla sugar
  • powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

Melt the butter and pour in the milk. Add yeast and whisk until dissolved.
Add the sugar and then the egg, whisking while adding them.

Pour in the dry ingredients (cardamom, ammonium bicarbonate and flour). Cover and let prove for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into round buns (I make this amount of dough into 9 equal sized buns). Cover and let prove again for 1 hour. Turn on your oven to 200°C. Egg wash the buns.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Let the buns cool to room temperature. In the meantime mix the almond paste with un-whipped whipping cream until you have a soft, pipeable consistency. Whip the rest of the whipping cream together with the vanilla sugar until soft peaks.

Cut off the top of each bun. I use scissors and cut out a triangular shape. Leave the lid for later use. Empty the middle of the buns, creating little wells. Pipe or pour the soft almond paste into the wells of each bun. Pipe the whipped cream onto the filled buns using a star tip or closed star tip (I use Wilton 2d). Add the lid on top of the piped cream, very gently pushing down a little. Dust the lids with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!






Much love,

12 comments:

  1. Yum yum yum! That semla looks incredible, and reading the ingredient list is making me drool! To me, it looks like they have tasty little hats--how cute!

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    1. Thank you so much lovely Devinne!! Haha, I actually made myself drool whilst typing out the recipe.
      Haha, they do have little hats! I love that!! I'm going to start calling the lids their hats from now on ;D
      Much love

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  2. Ooooh, well done! These look so delicious and adorable, like they have little clouds on top. :)

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    1. Aww, thank you Sarah!! <3 They are very tasty, and it's true - it does look like little clouds on top.
      Much love

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  3. Oh it looks so yummy! I love any pastry that has almonds in it so I'd love semla, I didn't know about it at all. I always struggle when I bake dough, which is a shame because these just look so so good. It really reminds me of a French pastry called religieuse and made of buns filled with chocolate or coffee cream and topped with whipped cream as well. Yummy!

    Julia xx

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    1. Thank you so much Julia! Oh I bet you'd love the semla.
      Struggle how? I used to think doughs were problematic too, but recently I've really been loving making them.
      Ah yes, does look a bit like religieuse, but they are made with pate a choux, which I'm dying to try. Maybe this weekend ;)
      Much love!

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  4. Ummm YUM! I have never heard of this treat but it sounds so intriguing and delicious!!

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    1. Hahahah! It's a super Swedish pastry. I think they also have varieties of it in the rest of Scandinavia, so maybe that's why they slipped under your radar. I'm glad to have introduced you to them :D
      Much love

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  5. Wow, semla looks (and sounds!) like a thing of true beauty. I love the big swirls of cream, just tempting you to dive straight in!

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    1. It really is! There are many new variations of it, but the classic is just flawless! Haha, thank you so much!
      Much love

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  6. Oh, those sound delicious! They remind me a bit of a (much, much better) cream puff. Someday I want to make these!

    xo
    Kristina
    www.eccentricowl.com

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Kristina! There's been others that have told me that it reminds them of cream puffs. I'm gonna have to try and make cream puffs now :D
      Oh you should, they are soooo good.
      Much love

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