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Small Pastries

Original Swedish Semla

Semla is a traditional Swedish sweet for winter and Carnival: a soft brioche bun with a rich almond paste and whipped cream filling.
Recipe Original Swedish Semla
  • Difficulty Medium
  • Preparation 30 minutes
  • Cooking 15 minutes
  • Servings for 8 people

Semla (or fastlagsbulle) is a lovely Swedish sweet created to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. Rich and tasty, these cardamom-scented buns celebrate Carnival with a Swedish touch.

This sweet consists of a very soft bun, similar to brioche bread and slightly sweet, filled with mandelmassa (a paste made from ground almonds, similar to marzipan), whipped cream and a dusting of powdered sugar. Semlor made with the original Swedish recipe are served with a nice cup of hot milk for dunking, or with strong black coffee to balance the sweetness of the Swedish semlor (the plural of semla).

Although these Swedish sweet buns are a typical Carnival treat, Swedes love them so much that you can find them in bakery display cases all winter long. Tradition, however, says the ideal day to eat semlor is Shrove Tuesday. On this day Swedish families get together to celebrate before Lent, making and enjoying large quantities of these sweet buns.

Easy to make and versatile, semla is also perfect for a sweet coffee break: a moment Swedes adore, so much so that they have turned it into a true ritual of coffee and pastries to break up the working day. Making the original semla recipe is not at all difficult, and by following these simple steps you can recreate it in kitchens all over the world.

If you’d like to try other Swedish Recipes, have a go at classic Swedish Meatballs, perhaps served with the famous Hasselback Potatoes. And to end the meal, what could be better than Saint Lucia Lussekatter?

Ingredients for 8 people

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Method

  1. To make Semla with the original Swedish recipe, put the flour, the crumbled yeast, the sugar, the egg and 3/4 of the water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead until the dough wraps around the hook, adding the remaining water if needed.
  2. Now add the butter, one small piece at a time, keeping the machine running until it is completely absorbed. The result will be a smooth, fairly soft ball of dough.
    Original Swedish Semla, step 2: smooth, soft brioche dough
  3. Flour the work surface and divide the dough into small buns of 50 g each. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover with a damp kitchen towel (washed without fabric softener) and let them rise in the oven, turned off with the light on, for about 3 hours or until doubled in size.
    Original Swedish Semla, step 3: small buns on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
  4. Bake at 190 °C (375 °F) for 10-12 minutes, then take them out of the oven and let them cool completely.
    Original Swedish Semla, step 4: golden buns just out of the oven
  5. Meanwhile, make the almond paste. In a food processor, blend the almonds with both kinds of sugar and the water. The result will be a fairly sticky mixture; keep it in the fridge until ready to use.
    Original Swedish Semla, step 5: almond paste blended in a food processor
  6. Now cut the buns: with a small knife or scissors, cut a circle through the top and the crumb underneath. Remove the lid and set it aside, then hollow out the inside with your fingers or a teaspoon to make a cavity.
    Original Swedish Semla, step 6: buns with the tops cut off and the insides hollowed out
  7. Whip the cream and add the almond paste, folding gently from the bottom up so it doesn’t deflate. Transfer everything to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and fill your buns. Put each lid back on and dust with powdered sugar before enjoying them. Finally, remember to download our App with exclusive content and fewer ads!

Storage

Because of the cream, Semlor should be kept in the fridge under a cake dome for up to 2-3 days.

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