Fettisdagen

Fettisdagen is the last day before the Christian feast; the day between the Blue Monday, and theAsh Wednesday. Because it is the last day before the Easter Feast, it has created a tradition to eat buns, so called semla. The oldest version of the semla was a plain bread bun, eaten in a bowl of warm milk. Today, the Swedish semla consists of a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off and insides scooped out, and is then filled with a mix of the scooped-out bread crumbs, milk andalmond paste, topped with whipped cream. The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar. Today it is often eaten on its own, with coffee or tea and some people still eat it in a bowl of hot milk.

Most grocery stores sell them already in Early January and Shawn, with the big sweet tooth, has bought a few this last few weeks. I'm not really into the shop bought version so Noah and I surprised Shawn and baked our own on Fettisdagen. Guess if he loved the surprise? And after tasting the "real deal", Shawn has requested homemade semla every year :-). Below are two pictures of semlor, the assembled product as well as a cut-up view of the semla. Anyone keen to visit next February...?