Semlor Buns . . . it’s a Swedish thing.

Swedish Semla Bun

(Because if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.)

Those crazy Swedes. Who else would stuff a cardamom bun with almond paste and whipped cream as a country-wide Fat Tuesday gastronomical observance? The Swedes, that’s who.

I learned about many Swedish foods and customs from my Mom, who grew up on an Iowa farm, the daughter of two Swedish immigrants. But she never, ever made me semlor — in fact, I never even knew about the tradition until I started Fika Bakeshop! I guess it wasn’t a thing back on the farm.

When I started researching traditional Swedish foodways in more detail, I found out about this crazy delicious tradition:

The traditions of semla are rooted in fettisdag (Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday) when the buns were eaten at a last celebratory feast before the Christian fasting period of Lent. At first, a semla was simply a bun, eaten soaked in hot milk (known as hetvägg).

At some point Swedes grew tired of the strict observance of Lent, added cream and almond paste to the mix and started eating semla every Tuesday between Shrove Tuesday and Easter.

Today, no such reservations exist and semlor (the plural of semla) usually appear in bakery windows as near after Christmas as is deemed decent – and sometimes even before. This is followed by a collective, nationwide moan about how it gets earlier every year. Shortly thereafter people begin to eat the things like the world will end tomorrow.

https://sweden.se/culture/food/the-semla

Unfortunately I cannot sell these in their complete glory as God intended — cottage food laws prevent me from selling items that are not shelf-stable such as whipped cream. But I CAN bake the buns, scoop them out and fill them with almond paste, ready to be completed with whipped cream at your home. And that is what I am going to do.

So, from now until February 21st (Fat Tuesday), you can order semlor buns prebaked, filled with marzipan and ready to be finished with whipped cream at your home.