
Semla
Semlor
These cardamom yeasted buns are a unique treat for Sweden. They are one of the prettiest things that you can see lined up in a bakery window, all ready for Fika time.
There are a few steps to making these buns, but if you plan it out correctly it’s fairly straight forward. I used fresh yeast for making these as I’ve actually never used it before and it seems more common for Scandinavians to use fresh instead of dried and I wanted to keep it fairly traditional. Next time, i’ll give it a go with dried yeast and see how it differs for taste and rise. If you would prefer to use dried yeast my rough estimation is that you could use 1 packet so about 6/7g for this recipe.
These are something to enjoy with maybe a group of people with some strong coffee or fresh leaf tea. Too special for just a regular sweet snack.
This recipe is adapted from the blog of Linda Lomelino one of my new fav blogs.
Dough
25g fresh yeast
120ml cold milk
325g plain flour
1 egg
50g of caster sugar
1/2tbsp baking powder
1tsp cardamom seeds
1/2tsp salt
100g soft butter, cut in pieces
1 tbsp water
100g ground almonds
100g caster sugar
2-3 tbsp water
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
25g blanched, finely chopped and toasted almonds
Cream
400ml of cream
1tbsp icing sugar, or to taste
Method
Start by grinding some cardamom seeds using a pestle and mortar so that they become like dust and set aside.
Crumble the fresh yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer and add milk, stir until yeast is completely dissolved. Add all of the other ingredients for dough except the butter. Work the dough using the dough hook for about 5 minutes, then add the butter a few pieces at a time.
Stir together the egg and water in a small bowl and lightly brush buns with egg wash.
For the almond filling: Mix 100g ground almonds with sugar and add as much water as needed to form a paste. Add vanilla, a splash of unwhipped cream and 25 g finely chopped toasted almonds to the paste and mix together until all is incorporated.
Aimee / WallflowerGirl.co.uk
I got hold of some fresh yeast this week and I’m itching to use it! Might have to try baking some of these buns, I love cardamom 🙂
admin
Yeah it’s really hard to get hold of in Ireland, I had to buy some off a local bakery. Yeah you can go as strong or as weak with the cardamom… i toned it down from the original cause i only like a small amount.