The buns that killed a king
You’d think Swedes are big on regicide by food when you browse this site. There was Erik XIV according to legend poisoned with pea soup and Adolf-Fredrik who died from digestive problems after eating semla on Shrove Tuesday 1771.
As it turns out King Erik was, indeed, poisoned with arsenic, but he’d not eaten pea soup that day. Semlor weren’t likely the culprits in the death of Adolf-Fredrik either. He ate them as dessert to top off a massive dinner consisting of sauerkraut, meat with turnips, lobster, caviar, kippers and champagne.
These little balls of heaven have been eaten in Sweden since at least the 17th century, but probably longer.
The name semla (pl. semlor) comes from the German Semmel, which is derived from Latin – similia, meaning flour.
It’s buns of sweet wheat dough, spiced with cardamom, filled with almond paste and whipped cream and dusted with icing sugar.
This is the same basic dough that is used when making cinnamon rolls, vanilla buns, apple buns or plain sweet buns. I must admit that I had to look up the recipe before posting this since I’ve made this dough more than 35 years and stopped measuring out the ingredients a long time ago.
Traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday, to gorge on foods not allowed again until Easter.
Semla - Shrovetide buns
Ingredients
For the buns
- 150 grams butter at room temperature cubed
- 30 cl milk full fat
- 50 g yeast
- 130 g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 750 g strong flour if you can't get strong all-purpose will do
- 2.5 tsp cardamom crushed
- 1 egg beaten for brushing
Almond filling
- 25 g almon paste per semla per semla
- 1 tsp milk per semla per semla
- 45 cl whipped cream per semla per semla
- icing sugar for dusting. for dusting.
Instructions
- Crush the cardamom seeds in a mortar and heat with the milk until it is finger-warm.
- Pour the milk into a saucepan, add sugar and cardamom seeds and heat until finger warm.if using dried yeast, check the packaging for temperature.
- Crumble the yeast into the bowl you're going to mix the dough in, this dough is suitable for a mixer such as my Ankarsrum Assistent.
- Add the egg and some of the flour and start working the dough. After five minutes add the salt and work in the rest of the flour a little bit at a time.
- Be careful while adding the flour. You may need a little bit more or a little bit less. The dough should not stick to the sides.
- Keep working the dough for 15 minutes by hand, or 10 minutes using a mixer.
- Cover the bowl and leave to rise in a warm place until double in size.
- Heat the oven tp 220 C (425 F, Gas mark 7)
- Tip the dough on a surface dusted flour. Quickly work it together, then divide the dough into 18-20 pieces (depending on how big you want you buns) and role into round buns. Set the buns on baking trays covered with baking parchment and cover. Let proof for 45-60 minutes until the buns spring back when gently prodded.
- Brush the buns with the beaten egg.
- Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes until golden.
- Let cool on a rack.
- Just before serving, cut open the top of the buns and scoop out the soft centre and fill with a mix of almond paste and milk, top with a dollop of whipped cream, place the bread top back and dust with icing sugar.