I have some good friends, Grant & Lindsay Morgan, that are in the middle of a journey that will take them to the other side of the world soon. They’ve both grown up with a heart for the world, and in the last couple years, an opportunity has developed for them to move to Stockholm, Sweden, to serve at New Life Church, for the next 2 years. As hard as it will be to see them move away, I am so proud to call them my friends, and I know that God has big plans for them.

Besides learning Swedish, one part of the culture that Grant & Lindsay have already started incorporating into their lives is Fika. Lindsay explains what Fika is on their blog, here, but in a nutshell, it means having coffee & something sweet to nibble on with good company & conversation. Ikea (one of my favorite stores ever) has even created a great cookbook with recipes for many different sweets that would be perfect for some Fika with friends. Even better than the recipes, I just LOVE the pictures in this book! It’s the kind of cookbook that would be great to set out on a coffee table for just browsing through.

So, the other evening, a group of friends hosted an evening of Fika so that Grant & Lindsay could share about themselves, their passion for Stockholm, and how we could help support them in the coming years. As my little way of helping out, I followed a recipe from the Fika cookbook and made Semlor Buns. I’ll be honest, as much as I have loved thumbing through this cookbook and looking at the pictures, this wasn’t the simplest recipe to follow. The ingredients weren’t all as straightforward as something like chocolate chip cookies, including the need to google “strong flour” & “fresh yeast,” and the directions were lacking some of the specifics that are helpful when baking. I like to know what speed the mixer is, or that I need to put something in the freezer prior to starting the recipe, etc. It was a good education. All that being said, this is still a fun cookbook, and not very pricey, so a fun addition to any collection. And these buns were super yummy. I wouldn’t make them all the time, because they were definitely a lot of work, but worth every bit for my dear friends.

“Semlor” Lenten Buns

Adapted from Fika
Makes about 40 buns

Dough
6-6 ½ cups Strong Flour (I used 900 grams for the dough and a little extra to dust my board when I did a little kneading) (Turns out this means Bread Flour, which is higher in protein than all purpose flour)
2/3 cup Superfine Sugar (This is sold is most big supermarkets, but I never buy it. I usually just pulse my granulated sugar in my bullet for a little bit, but not too much! You don’t want powdered sugar. HOWEVER, I was in a rush this time and just used granulated sugar, straight up, and I think they turned out just fine.)
4 ½ oz Butter, room temperature (9 tbspn) (I always use salted butter)
1 ¾ oz Fresh Yeast (This is a type of yeast that’s only used in professional kitchens, at least around these parts. So, after some research, I landed on using 3 packets of Active Dry Yeast which came to 21 grams.)
2 tspn Crushed Cardamom (I HIGHLY recommend buying whole cardamom seeds and grinding them fresh with a coffee grinder or bullet. You’ll get much more flavor from that. Otherwise, use double the amount if you buy pre-ground.)
1 Large Egg, room temperature
2 cups Milk (I used whole)

Glaze
2 Large Egg Yolks
2 tbsp Milk (I used whole)

Filling
100 grams Blanched, Slivered Almonds
Crumbs from inside the buns
¼ cup Milk (I used whole)
9 oz Marzipan (The marzipan I was able to find at Whole Foods came in a 7oz package, so that’s what I used. If you’re unable to find it in a store near you, or you just feel extra ambitious, you can find recipes for making your own. It’s mostly almonds and powdered sugar)

Garnish
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
Powdered Sugar

• Before you get started, put your marzipan in the freezer. It needs to be grated later, and that’s easiest if it’s frozen.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer(I started with my beater blade attachment like this) add flour, sugar, butter (broken into pieces), yeast, cardamom, and yeast.
• Mix together on low until combined, less than a minute.
• Heat the 2 cups of milk on the stove to lukewarm (100° F) and pour it into the mixture in the stand mixer.
• Switch to the dough hook attachment on the mixer and mix for about 7 minutes on a low-med/low setting. The dough should be completely pulled away from the sides of the bowl and smooth, almost shiny. I had to turn the mixer off once or twice to pull the dough back down as it was coming up and over the attachment.

• Let rise in a relatively warm place, under a kitchen towel, for 30-40 minutes. Don’t worry too much about the warm thing, you don’t need to turn on the heat or anything, but you don’t want it to be cold and drafty right where you’re trying to let them rise.

• Place the dough onto a floured baking board and knead gently a few times.
• Divide the dough into 40 even pieces. I actually weighed the dough on my kitchen scale and then used a dough scraper to cut it into pieces. Once I knew how much the entire amount of dough weighed, I just divided by 40 and tried to get them all as close as I could. I split the whole thing in half again and again until I got down to what I needed. I ended up keeping all of mine between 40-45 grams each. The more alike they all are, the more evenly they will bake.
• Roll the pieces of dough into smooth buns and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I got 20 onto one of my favorite baking sheets. Cover each sheet with a kitchen towel and allow to rise for another 30-40 minutes. Again, I was in a major hurry and made it about 30 minutes before moving on.

pre-rising

• While they rise, preheat the oven to 350° F.
• Once done rising, spread the buns out onto a couple additional trays. I baked mine 10 per sheet pan, all parchment paper lined.
• Whisk together the 2 egg yolks & 2 tbsp of milk, and brush over the tops of the buns. This will help make them golden brown & shiny. I’ll be more thorough next time because it’s obvious where I missed on mine.

ready to bake

• Bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Mine took about 8 minutes. I baked 2 sheets at a time and should have switched the trays and rotated them halfway through baking, because they weren’t all as even as they should have been.

• When done, let cool on a cooling rack. Everything up until this point can be done ahead, also. I baked all of my buns the day before I filled them. I just wrapped them with some press & seal to keep them from drying out.
• For the filling, lightly toast the almonds in a small skillet, over med-low heat. It won’t take very long, just a few minutes. They done once they’re starting to brown and you can smell them. They can burn easily so don’t rush this step. Once toasted, let cool for a few minutes and then roughly chop and set aside.
• Cut off the top of the buns, scoop out some of the crumbs from the center, and replace the top so it doesn’t get mixed up. Pulse the bun innards in a food processor (I used my bullet in a couple batches) until nice and crumbled like bread crumbs. Place the crumbs in a medium bowl.
• Now for the lovely task of grating the marzipan. I used my microplane, because it didn’t specify what type of grater, and I assumed it needed to be a small enough grate to incorporate well in the filling. Grate it directly into the bowl that has the crumbs in it. I recommend leaving most of the marzipan in the freezer and cutting off a chunk at a time to work on. It gets soft really quickly in the warmth of your hand and it was easiest to grate when it was hard.
• Add the ¼ cup of milk to the crumbs and marzipan and mix until you have a smooth paste. Fold the almonds into the filling.
• Pipe the filling into the buns. For something like this, I put the filling into a sturdy ziploc bag (this is not the time for thin, store-brand bags, unless you want a mess) cut the tip off of one of the bottom corners and voila, piping bag! You should have enough to fill all of your buns, as long as you don’t overfill the first ones that you’re working on.

• Whip the heavy cream with a hand mixer or I like to use my immersion blender with the whisk attachment. Pipe enough cream to just cover the open bun and replace the tops. Dust with powdered sugar using a fancy shaker like this or a small wire mesh strainer like I use.

• Serve immediately. Whipped cream isn’t something that hangs very well, especially at room temp. These are best when eaten soon. Stash in the fridge for a bit if you need to make them much ahead of time.

Whew. That was a lengthy one, but they are quite yummy, especially if you don’t like a super sickeningly sweet dessert. If you want to learn more about Grant & Lindsay and what they’re up to, check out their blog at www.grantandlindsay.com. And be sure to enjoy some fika with friends soon!

love and butter,

amy

Over the years, I’ve had several people ask me if I have a blog. The answer has always been, “no, I’m not really much of a writer, so it wouldn’t be very good.” I still don’t consider myself to be much of a writer, but a couple of months ago, I was challenged to believe that as people created in the image of God, we are intended to also create. As a part of that, it’s not expected that we can all be genius’s at anything we set our minds too, right away at least. Sometimes, when we start something new, we won’t be very good at it, and that’s ok. Sometimes, we have to work at something for hours and hours and hours before it’s even just ok. So, for the sake of trying something new, for the sake of trying to be creative, and because I do enjoy sharing what comes out of my kitchen, here goes.

love and butter,

amy