Picture from Ica.se
I wrote a post about this day last year and I even gave you a recipe for it but since that's more than a year ago I've decided to write about it again.
"Fettisdagen" or "Mardi gras" is originally a Christian holiday that's become more of a Swedish tradition since Sweden isn't a very religious country anymore. It falls on a different day every year because it's always 47 days before easter. Last year Mardi gras was on February 11 which also happens to be my sister's birthday. It's supposed to be the last day before the Lent but most people I know don't fast, I don't think I've ever heard of someone in Sweden that has done it. In Sweden we eat a bun called "semla" on this day, in fact all the bakerys starts selling them weeks before the actual day. It's a wheat bun filled with almond paste (also known as "marzipan") and whipped cream and you can sprinkle som powdered sugar on top of the lid. Personally I'm not a huge fan of this bun because of the almond paste (marzipan) but if I can get one without it I'll eat it. Some people (like my grandpa) eats them with warm milk. Not drinking the milk with the bun but putting the bun in a bowl of warm milk which I just now learned is called "hetvägg" (roughly translated to "hot wall"). I've never tried this.
This year I haven't had one but I think I might make some because they're super easy to make. Here's the recipe if you would like to try too. Recipe from this site.
Semla recipe
About 15 large or 25 small buns
Buns
100 g butter
300 ml milk, 3%
50 g fresh yeast (for sweet dough)
1 tsp crushed cardamom
½ tsp salt
85 g sugar
about 500–550 g plain flour
1 beaten egg for brushing
Filling
200 g marzipan
bun centres
100 ml milk
300 ml whipping cream
Decoration
Icing sugar for dusting
Preparation
1. Melt the butter and add the milk. Heat to 37°C.
2. Crumble the yeast in a bowl and add the cardamom or the orange peel.
3. Add the milky liquid and stir until the yeast has melted. Stir in the salt, the sugar and most of the flour, but save a little flour for later.
4. Work the dough in a food processor/dough mixer for about 15 minutes.
5. Let it rise to twice its size in the bowl, about 40 minutes.
6. Place the dough on a floured pastry board and cut into pieces. Roll into buns and place on oven paper or greased baking sheet. Let the buns rise to twice their size, about one hour.
7. Brush the buns with egg. Bake in the lower part of the oven, at 225°C for around 8–10 minutes for large buns and 250°C for 5–7 minutes for small. Leave to cool on wire racks.
8. Cut off the bun tops. Scoop out the centre of each bun (about 2 tsp) and crumble in a bowl.
9. Rough grate the marzipan and mix it with the crumbs and milk into a creamy mass.
10. Fill the hollow buns with this mixture.
11. Whip the cream and squirt or spoon it over the filling. Place the top on the bun and dust with icing sugar.
12. Serve alone with coffee or in the form of a hetvägg in a deep bowl with warm milk and ground cinnamon.
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