Bakery Window · Cardamom Bun
Semla
Photo: Frugan / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
Legend blames a semla binge for killing King Adolf Fredrik in 1771 — though historians now think a stroke, not fourteen buns swimming in warm milk, was the real culprit.
A cardamom-spiced wheat bun is hollowed out, filled with almond paste and whipped cream, then dusted with powdered sugar. Stockholm's konditori bakeries pile their windows with them from just after Christmas until Fat Tuesday (fettisdagen).
Why it's made this way: The bun's cream-and-almond version grew out of an older dish, hetvägg, once served floating in hot milk — a Lenten indulgence before the fasting season.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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