Swedish Semla with roasted almond filling (filled cardamom bun)

February 16th is the Fat Tuesday when we in Sweden eat our icon bun – Semla – the cardamom bun filled with almond filling, heavy whipped cream and sprinkled with some powder sugar.

In this recipe I have made my own almond filling with roasted almonds, which give extra taste to the filling. I have also made them “normal” size, compared to another recipe you find here, where I made mini size of the Semla.

Try these buns! They are delicious (and it’s a reason why we don’t eat them every day – they are pretty heavy)!

Ingredients (15 buns):

Buns

• 4 tsp active dry yeast
• 4 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 2/3 cup whole milk (98ºF)
• 2/5 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 10 tbs butter (room temperature)
• 1 egg (glazing) + 1 tbs water

Filling

• 200g raw almonds
• 1 cup power sugar
• 2 egg whites
• eventually 1-2 tbsp cream
• 10 oz heavy whipped cream
• powder sugar

Start with mixing the yeast with some of the flour (1 cup) in a stand mixer bowl and let rest for some minutes.

Heat the milk to 98ºF. Add sugar to the yeast and flour mixture. Then add the lukewarm milk and stir in the stand mixer. Add salt and ground cardamom and let the stand mixer continue to stir. Then add another 1 1/2 cup of the flour in to the mixture, but make sure to add it in smaller amounts at the same time as the stand mixer is continuing to stir.

Then add the egg into the batter. Add the soft butter in small portions in to the dough while continuing to stir. Finally add the rest of the flour (2 cups if needed) in smaller amounts. Don’t add the whole amount if you find the dough already done (it shouldn’t be too sticky, but also not too hard).

Let the dough ferment for about 45-50 minutes until double size. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel.

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment (or two if you have smaller ones). Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 15 equal sized pieces. Roll all pieces into round buns with your hands and place on the baking sheet. Leave to rise, covered with kitchen towel, for about 30 minutes until double size again.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400ºF. Lightly glaze the buns with a beaten egg thinned with water. Bake the buns for about 7-10 minutes (until they are nicely browned colored). Let the buns cool down on a grid.

Filling

Per heat the oven to 400°F. Roast the almonds in the oven, by placing them on an oven tray covered with parchment paper. Roast for 10-15 minutes. Stir the almonds around after half of the roasting time.

Mix the roasted almonds in a food processor until almost a flour texture. Add powder sugar and egg whites. Mix until all ingredients are mix well together. Eventually add some table spoon with cream if a bit looser texture is needed (should be like a spread texture). Keep in the refrigerator until usage.

Whip the heavy whipped cream until perfect whipped texture.

Once the buns have cool down, slice a thin portion off the top of each bun and set aside (don’t trough away!). Using a fork, tease out a small layer of crumbs from each bun to make some space for the filling. Place enough of the filling in each hollowed bun so it comes to the edge without going over the side (see picture below). Spoon or a pipe (I use a pipe) a generous whipped cream on top. Cut the “lids” in the shape you wish (round, diamond, heart) and put it back on top of them whipped cream. Dust with powder sugar and serve immediately.

You can prepare the buns before, even refrigerate until the day you want to eat them and then fill them with filling, whipped cream and powdered sugar.

Smaklig måltid!