If you are wondering why you’re seeing even more advertisements for pastries and fika in Sweden… You know, semla season is around the corner!
A semla (or semlor in plural) is a must-try when you are visiting Sweden during January-Easter, as the pastries are finally available then.
The tradition dates back to the 16th century, when it began as a simple wheat bun in hot milk, marking the start of the fasting period during Lent, as it was traditionally eaten on Ash Wednesday.
That is also where the name ‘Fettisdagen’, translated to ‘Fat Tuesday’, comes from.
The semla was so tasty that rumours even spread that King Adolf Frederick died after eating 14 hetvägg (semlas served in a bowl of warm milk), causing digestion problems, as it was his favourite dessert.
If you want to try the semla on Ash Wednesday, be ready for a huuuuuuge queue and bakery-crazyness, as apparently 4 MILLION semlor are sold during that day in Sweden…
But don’t worry, you can eat them at another moment too if you don’t want the rush.
Nowadays, we haven’t heard other stories of people dying after eating too many semlor, so you should be safe!
Also, creativity and semla go hand in hand, different tastes and forms, for everyone’s taste!
It started with the basic taste of a cheat bun in hot milk, to now a wheat bun with cream and almond paste, and even combined with pistachio, Nutella, banana,… or in a wrap, milkshake,… even a princess semla isn’t too crazy anymore!
Semla Hunt
As there are a loot of café’s, I’ve made a list of my favourite places and other popular places!
- Ofvandahls Hovkonditori: winner of last year (especially the wiener variant is so good!)
- Güntherska: crowned as best semla 2026
- Konditori Fågelsången: tried my first ever semla here with Farah, and it didn’t disappoint!
Other places, where I haven’t been yet for a semla yet:
- Storken
- Café Årummet
- Uno
- Bröd & salt and Espresso house
- But also supermarkets
- …
How to eat?
When you finally find the perfect place, the next struggle can start:
How do you even begin to eat it?
There are many ways, but from some you a different looks or you need to wear a bib!
The classic one
For this elegant way of eating, you take off the lid and eat it first. Then you eat the rest with your knife and fork.
(proper clothes guaranteed!!)
The old school
You eat the semla in a bowl with milk.
The architect
You carefully deconstruct everything: lid, cream, almond paste, bun,…
I don’t care and just want to eat
You just eat it with your hand, like a burger, without removing the lid first.
(don’t foget to whipe your mouth clean!)
Recipe
There are many recipes online, from using storebought buns to making everything from scratch, spending more than 2 hours in the kitchen…
So, after a little research on our beloved platform, Instagram, this is a recipe that seems foolproof!
Semla (makes 8 buns) – recipe from @bakedbylaora
Buns:
150 ml milk, 1 egg, 350 g all-purpose flour, 100 g butter, 50 g sugar, 5 g salt, 25 g fresh yeast or 7 g dry yeast, 1 tsp cardamom.
Almond remonce:
150 g almonds, 80 g powdered sugar or honey, 80–100 ml milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract.
Whipped cream:
500 ml whipped cream, 60 g powdered sugar, 1 tbsp vanilla extract.
Buns Instructions:
- In a saucepan, warm the milk until lukewarm, then add it to a bowl (stand mixer or by hand).
- Add the egg, yeast, sugar, and cardamom, and stir until dissolved.
- Add the flour and mix on low to medium speed for 3–5 minutes, then add the butter and salt and mix on high for 5–6 more minutes.
- Grease a bowl and form the dough into a ball and place into greased bowl, cover with plastic foil, and let it proof for 1 hour.
- After proofing, punch the dough down and transfer to a floured surface. Divide into 8 equal balls (around 80 g each) and place on a baking tray with parchment paper. Cover and let rise a second time for 40 minutes. Brush gently with egg wash and bake at 200°C (fan) for 15 minutes. Let them cool down completely.
Almond paste Instructions:
Blend the almonds for about 1 minute. Add the sweetener and vanilla, then blend again. Add milk little by little until the texture becomes spreadable and softer, just make sure it doesn’t get too runny.
Assembling:
Cut the top off each bun with a bread knife and scoop out about 1/3 of the bun to make room for the filling. Traditionally, you save some of the scooped dough and mix it into the remonce, but you can skip this. Fill with the remonce, top with whipped cream, and place the “lid” back on. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy
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