The Nutella Semla

Hello all you lovely people,

Last year on a day just like this, I claimed that it was no ordinary day. And I'm here to say that is the case this year as well!

It's World Nutella Day!!

*confetti and balloons*

I've also mentioned before how February is a yummy month, because it's got the Nutella day, Valentine's Day (obviously you eat something sweet on Vday) and Fat Tuesday where we eat Semla in Sweden.

This year I decided to combine two yummies in one!
I present to you -- the Nutella Semla!

It is basically a Semla-bun filled with Nutella instead of almond paste and dusted with cocoa powder instead of powdered sugar.

For the Semla-bun check out my recipe from last year here from the post Fat Tuesday.

The Nutella Semla

INGREDIENTS

• Everything needed for the Semla-buns minus the almondpaste and powdered sugar
• 1 jar of Nutella
• Cocoa powder

DIRECTIONS

We'll start from where the buns are out of the oven and cooled.

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. Spoon in as much Nutella as you can fit inside of the wells.

Whip the whipping cream with vanilla sugar until soft peaks and pipe it onto the filled buns using a star tip (I use Wilton 1M). Add the lid on top of the piped cream, very gently pushing down a little. Dust the lids with cocoa powder.

I hope you all have a fantastic Nutella day!
Please let me know if you make these yummy little pastries!

Much love,

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,