Semlor are sweet cardamom leavened wheat buns. The top is removed and the bun is stuffed with yummy almond paste, then topped with whipped cream. They are a cornerstone of Swedish culinary history, predating the Swedish Protestant Reformation (circa 1527).
Now, you’re likely wondering what a humble bun has to do with killing a King? Well, some say it did, some say it didn’t. Read on and decide for yourself and learn how to make this fantastic Swedish bun.
Here we have one of those 500-year-old beauties. OK, this one is slightly younger than 500 and is ready to eat. Here in Sweden, Semlor begin popping-up in coffee shops and markets beginning in January (sooner in some areas) and adorn fika tables until Easter. One shouldn’t eat a Semla without learning a bit about its history and about “the king who died”.
OK, is it Semla or is it Semlor?? Answer; it’s both. Semla is singular and Semlor is plural. So, you’ll see them both used in today’s post.
Semla, the historical bun
The Semlor Timeline
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- Early 1500’s, the hetvägg (early Semla) triangle shaped bun with caraway seeds shows up on Shrove Tuesday.
- 1527 – Swedish Reformation begins
- 1771 February 12th – King Adolf Fredik dies of over-consuming, a massive dinner with the last item, a Semla.
- Early 1800’s – it changed from a triangle shaped bun to a round bun and served in a bowl with warm milk and spices. During this time the name of the bun was changed to “fetttisdag bulle” or Fat Tuesday bun.
- 1850 – Sweden changed name to en (one) Semla or flera (many) Semlor. Also, about this time, the caraway in the bun was replaced with cardamom and almond paste was added as a filler.
- Early 1900’s – A chef from Gotland, piped some whipped cream on top of the almond paste and put the lid back on. We’re not sure if this is when the icing sugar appeared, but certainly it was there soon after.
- 2000’s – Various varieties of the Semla were introduced. This includes lemon curd filled, Nutella with chocolate cream, jam filled and many more.
- 2015 – A revolutionary change was introduced in Stockholm. The semmelwrap, which is basically a flatbread made from Semlor dough and then spread with almond paste and topped whipped cream and folded into a wrap. The up-country (North of Skane) folk seemed to like them. That’s all we’ll say on that.
- 2018 – The original Semla, a round cardamom bun with almond paste and whipped cream still reigns supreme.
King Adolf Fredrik and his over indulgence!Painting by, Lorens Pasch the Younger [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
King Adolf Fredrik (above), who reigned from 14 May 1710 to 12 February 1771, was said to be a man of grand size with a Falstaffian appetite. History tells, that on that on that fateful 1771 Fetttisdagen (Fat Tuesday), that the big guy decided to tuck-into dinner in grand proportions. During that evening, he is reported to have consumed kippers, lobster, caviar, sauerkraut along with copious amounts of champagne. Now, word was that he was holding his own up until this point. But, then he decided to top off that feast with fourteen (yes fourteen) Semla buns with almond paste, floating in hot cream. After downing the last bun, he was said to have fallen to the floor with severe stomach cramps. He died minutes after. From then forward, that day became known as “The Day of the Semlor”. So, I ask you, did the Semla kill him or was it all the foods combined? Would he have lived had he only eaten one or two Semlor?
FYI: Should poet Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna have had his way on that frightful night, the Semla bun would have been banished forever as the bun that kills Kings. Alas, Swedes loved their Semlor far to much to give it up, so today we have the same Semla (without the milk or cream, that’s an up-country thing) that killed old King Fredrik.
Caution; “Lost in a Pot” does not advise consuming 14 Semlor at any one setting, by any one person. Anytime!
Making of the Semlor Buns
Making the buns is the most involved, but simple part of the process. You’ll need a few basic sweet bread ingredients, such as butter, sugar, milk, eggs, yeast, ground cardamom, salt, flour and hjorthornssalt.
FYI: Hjorthornssalt is simply ammonium carbonate or what is called Bakers ammonia in North America. It’s also called “smelling salt” and used to revive someone who has passed out. Smell it and you’ll understand. It is used in this recipe to give it that extra bounce when rising. If you can’t find it, you can substitute baking soda in equal parts.
The Bun
Combine your flour, sugar, cardamom, salt, hjorthornssalt (your “dries”) and set to the side. Next, combine your warm milk, melted butter and yeast (your “wets”).
Using a stand mixer, hand mixer or by hand, mix your dries and wets in a bowl until well blended.
Once combined, place the ball of bun dough in a large bowl and cover. Place the bowl in a warm part of the room and allow to rise for thirty (30) minutes. The dough on the left (above) is just mixed and the same bowl to the left has risen. Note: The dough will not have a huge bread dough rise. The bun dough will continue rising when baking.
Once risen, gently deflate the bun dough and divide the dough into equal size pieces and roll into a nice ball. Just a note, for smaller Semlor divide into 30 pieces. For medium size pieces divide into 25 pieces. To make traditional size buns, divide into 18-20 pieces. After you have divided and rolled the buns, cover and allow to rise for 30 additional minutes. Also, it’s time to get that oven up to temp. Set it for 235°C (450°F).
This is where the egg comes in. Lightly beat the egg with a small splash of water until it mixture is thinned and ready to brush. Next, lightly brush the top of the risen buns with the mixture. This will give them that lovely golden color when baked.
With the oven up to temp, place the risen buns on the center rack and bake for about 8 minutes. Keep a close eye on them as you may need to cover them with aluminum foil to prevent over browning. About 6 minutes in you should begin to smell that incredible cardamom and butter cooking. Once brown and cooked, remove and cool.
TIP: When the buns are still slightly warm, grab one and slather it with fresh butter and tuck in! This is my favorite way to eat them..
The assembly of the Semlor buns…
OK, let’s get our buns in gear…Using a sharp bread knife slice off the top half of the Semlor buns. Make a slight well in the bottom piece by plucking out some of the cooked bun. Reserve this for use in the almond paste filling (recipe follows). Now, place either your homemade or store bought almond paste mixture on top of the bun to fill the well and come to the edges (image top right). Pipe on some whipping cream, sprinkle on the powdered sugar and you’ve just made a historical killer bun. As an option, omit the almond paste and use lemon curd, jam, fruit or any other combination that suits you.
Nutella with chocolate whipped cream and sprinkles is Flisan’s new favorite! Oh, and Flisan says to always eat the top first.
Thanks for taking time to read and enjoy your Fat Tuesday, Shrove Day, Pancake Tuesday or whatever they call this day where you live. Hopefully, you’ll have plenty of Semlor, Vastlakukkel, Fastelavnsbolle, Fastlagsbulle Fat Tuesday bun delights where you live. If not, here’s the recipe!
The “Swedish Semlor Buns” recipe has not been tasted and tested by Chloe. After reading the history and having a sniff, she decided not to go the way of the king. Besides, Semla aren’t good for dogs. However, she has approved Semlor for human consumption.
Swedish Semlor Buns
A Swedish tradition sweet bun, made with cardamom and filled with almond paste and whipped cream. An historic bun, predating the Swedish Reformation of 1527 and a bun that is said to have killed a king or maybe not.
Ingredients
Semlor Bun
- 5 tsp (5 tsk/15g) Instant or Quick yeast (dry), or 50 g of fresh Swedish yeast.
- 7 tbls (100g/3.5oz.) Butter, melted.
- 1.25 cups (300g/3dl) Whole milk.
- 4.25 cups (600g/10dl/21.16oz.) All-purpose flour. (See note 1)
- 6.75 tbsp (90g/1dl/3.17oz.) Sugar, granulated.
- 2 tsp (2 tsk) Ground cardamom.
- 1/2 tsp (1/2 tsk) Bakers Ammonia or hjorthornssalt in Sweden. (See note 2)
- 1/2 tsp (1/2 tsk) Table salt. (See note 3)
- 1 Egg, lightly beaten for brushing.
Semlor Filling
- 1-1/2 cups (3.5dl) Homemade almond paste (recipe follows), (see note 4)
- 2 cups (5dl ) Heavy whipping cream, (see note 5)
- Icing sugar (powdered sugar), for dusting buns.
Instructions
Buns
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Combine your flour, sugar, cardamom, salt, hjorthornssalt (or Bakers ammonia), which is your “drys”. Set to the side for use in a minute. If using dry instant or quick yeast, see note 3.
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Next, combine your warm milk, melted butter and fresh yeast. This is your “wets”.
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Using a stand mixer, hand mixer or by hand, mix your drys and wets in a bowl until well blended.
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When combined, place the ball of bun dough in a large bowl and cover. Place in a warm part of the room and allow to rise for thirty (30) minutes.
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It's time to get that oven up to temp. Set it for 235°C (450°F).
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Once risen, gently deflate the bun dough ball and divide the dough into equal size pieces and roll into nice balls. Just a note, for smaller Semlor divide into 30 pieces. For medium size pieces divide into 25 pieces. To make traditional size buns, divide into 18-20 pieces. After you have divided and rolled the buns, cover and allow to rise for 30 additional minutes.
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This is where the egg comes in. Lightly beat the egg with a small splash of water until it mixture is thinned and ready to brush. Next, lightly brush the top of the risen buns with the mixture. This will give them that lovely golden color when baked.
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With the oven up to temp, place the risen buns on the center rack and bake for about 8 minutes. Keep a close eye on them as they may need to be covered with aluminum foil to prevent over browning. Once brown and cooked, remove and cool.
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Once cooled, using a sharp bread knife slice off the top half of the Semlor buns. Make a slight well in the bottom piece by plucking out some of the cooked bun. Reserve the bun crumbs for use in the almond paste filling (recipe follows).
Filling
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Using the leftover bun crumbs, mix the almond paste with a splash of milk to make a nice spreadable filling for the buns.
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Whip the heavy cream until it holds tight peaks. Fill your piping bag fitted with the star nozzle. Place in refrigerator until needed.
Semla Bun Assembly
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Now, place either your homemade or store bought almond paste mixture on top of the bun to fill the well and come to the edges.
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Pipe on some whipping cream and lightly dust the icing sugar on the tops of the buns. They are now ready to eat...
Recipe Notes
Please note that the quantities can be changed by entering the amount you wish in the quantity indicator. However, the metric will not change.
- The weight of flour can vary from place to place. I would suggest you start with 9dl or 540g or 3.8 cups, mix let set for about 8 minutes then check and see if additional flour is needed. If it is, remix until smooth.
- Substitute baking powder in equal amounts if Bakers Ammonia is unavailable.
- If using dry yeast add it to your dry ingredients but add the salt and mix with flour prior to adding yeast. This prevents the dried yeast from killing the yeast.
- Pre-made almond paste should be readily available in your markets baking isle. Odense is a popular brand (Danish) available at Whole Foods and Target in North America. It should also be available in other markets. However, making your own is very easy and cheaper.
- As the whipping cream breaks down rather rapidly, I don't pipe on the cream until just prior to serving. In a pinch, you can used canned "real" whipped cream.
As for the filling of the Semlor buns, feel free to experiment. We always make some with lemon curd, homemade raspberry and strawberry jam. They are good with any sweet filling.
Homemade Almond Paste
A simple and inexpensive recipe for making your own fresh almond paste. Perfect for baking those lovely European pastries.
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups Blanched whole almonds
- 1 Egg white, lightly beatten.
- 1-1/2 teaspoons Almond extract or Amaretto
- 1-1/2 cups Icing sugar or, confectioners' sugar.
- 1/4 teaspoon Table salt
Instructions
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Place the blanched almonds in a food processor. Cover and pulse process until the almonds a just smooth.
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Add the icing sugar (confectioners' sugar), egg white, extract or Amaretto and salt. Return the cover and pulse process until smooth.
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Can be refrigerated for a month. You can also freeze the paste for up to three months.
Bill says
These sound quite good. I seem to find most things that survive historically are though. And I can think of some other possible uses for the almond paste as well — like we need an excuse to bake with Amaretto. Nice post, thanks.
Ron says
Amaretto is mighty fine in a glass as well. As for almond paste, if you go to a bakery here it’s in about every pastry. Nothing like a buttery flaky danish with a nice layer of almond paste. They say it’s quite good on toast as well. Glad you enjoyed the post and thanks for your comment.
Eha says
Am enjoying, laughing and wondering how the ruddy Reformation comes into the picture? Yes, ‘our’ ‘Vastlakuklid’ (plural) have led to a number of recipes on the Estonian blogs I frequent also. Although I do not normally bake, have to admit yours look just ‘bootiful’ and appetizing and methinks one can bake them on days other than Shrove Tuesday also 🙂 !! Don’t believe semlor buns did the King in – if one is a gourmand rather than a gourmet, with the Swedish love of cream and sugar and . . . he probably had been on the cusp of saying ‘good-bye’ to the world for quite awhile . . . it just. rather naturally, happened after yet another heavy meal!!! (Sorry to be a spoilsport – please, please get Flisan to DISlike Nutella as soon as possible – it is probably one of the most dangerous prepared ‘foods’ in the world . . . actually Denmark did try to get rid of it, even threatening people in certain firms with dismissal if they brought it to work, . . . there is a lot of money involved . . . )
Ron says
The reformation. Well, call it a historic timemark, as the Semlor entered into print around that time.
Oh that King, who knows what got him in the end. I’m sure eating 14 Semlor didn’t help. Fact is, he lived to an old age for a monarch of that era.
In Estonia, I’ve read your Shrove Tuesday bun is filled with jam. That’s actually my favored way of eating Semla.
The Nutella, gone into the bin. That stuff is awful in my mind. As for Flsian, I believe It is a very rare occasion her mom allows her to have Nutella.
Jeff says
I love your buns! Well, you know what I mean. I love baking and I love baking breads in particular, so I’m very interested in making these. I came across pictures of them a few years ago when doing some Mardi Gras research. They looked so delicious – I’m glad to get the recipe. I think I’ll be making the lemon curd version, or maybe a few of those and a few of the almond paste ones.
Ron says
Well thank you, nobody has complimented my buns for years. Do give the buns a go. They’re great with the lemon curd (we use Robertson’s from the UK) they and nice just plain. We keep some in the freezer and often thaw one for breakfast or fika. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.