How to be a local: celebrate Fettisdagen! #Swedish101

“The traditions of semla are rooted in fettisdag (Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday) when the buns were eaten at a last celebratory feast before the Christian fasting period of Lent.”

As I’m not gonna post all the history here, you can either read the full article here, or simply google Swedish Semla, or ask your Swedish friends! ;)

Okay so. Last week, wherever I walk past a bakery, I saw something similar: a bun filled with Whipped Cream. Later on I found out that it is a tradition in Sweden, called “The Fat Tuesday”, to have this particular bun along with a coffee or tea.

And I decided to bake this Semla bun instead of buying from the bakery.
YEAH. You didn’t read it wrong—I baked Semlas.

Well, of course I didn’t bake them by myself (obviously, HAHA). I baked them together with my shifu, ci Margaret.
The making of Semla was more or less like this:

This time, my job was not only to capture the moments. I did contribute, you guys can’t judge me.

And while I was busy taking my role, I asked Ci Margaret to take a pic of me.
– top left: me, trying to look serious and fully concentrate on it, but… ok.
– top right: look at that okay i’m hungry let’s just finish this! smile.
– bottom left: just for you guys to see what I was doing. (this one is 80% candid, I swear)
– bottom right: my Semla, 30% done. But I’m still proud.

Next, we had to wait for the dough to rise twice the size, for around 30mins.
That’s when we realized we’re so hungry, and decided to have some breads with butter.

To be honest, the thing about baking that I hate the most is when I have to wait around 30mins for several times. It’s like I got nothing to do… I did have chit-chats with Ci Margaret, of course,  but still. Waiting makes me hungry.

Well, at least I waited for something that’s going to happen for sure (re: I can eat these Semla). Waiting for my prince charming to come is even worse.
Well…
It’s not that he will arrive with his white horse on this 14th Feb, tho… Dammit. Another ordinary Val-day.
But that’s ok I got my own (Belgium) chocolate already, ehehe. #BukanJomblo #JombloSihTapiNggakNgenes #SingleandHappy #Bye

…
Ok. I really need to stop about this thing. HAHA. Sorry.

Anyway,
We also had to prepare the whipped cream and the almond paste (in Swedish: riven mandelmassa).
I’m telling you, to grate the almond paste… It requires 60% energy, 20% motivation, and 20% patience.
I was like so tired I even took 1 minute break, HAHA.

I suggest you to have something to think/someone to talk while grating that almond paste—or you’ll end up thinking, ‘do I really have to bake this Semla‘ or ‘why can’t this thing just grate its own self‘.

Oh, and in the meantime we also put the dough in the oven for around 10mins.

So now, the Semlas were 90% done.
The next step is to cut off the bun tops, and put the paste almond and whipped cream (the amount depends on your preference).

AND FINALLY IT’S DONE!
#np we are the championnnn, my friends…

I know these Semlas are far from the word pretty, but hey… we can’t judge food by its appearance… right? Plus, we are no professional baker.
#AndImNotMakingExcuses #HAHAHA
But I’m not joking, they taste so good (or maybe I was just too hungry… ok. whatever.)

Oh and btw, eventually I decided to buy one piece of Semla from the supermarket today. And so I compared it to the Semla we baked…

… please don’t laugh.
Hahahaha no, actually you can. Even I feel sad for my Semla, hahahaha. But actually no, it has inner beauty—for sure. But ok, this Semla that I bought is too pretty… I mean, look at that whipped cream. So sexy.

But anyway.
The best thing about baking is when your finally can eat what you baked—really, it’s like you proud moment and that you will feel very satisfied.
(( Even I was so sure that I’ll be a good housewife I almost cried. #WanitaSejati ))

Nevertheless, despite our ordinary-looking Semlas, I was really glad to have a baking session with Ci Margaret. It’s always nice to have a talk with her. Let’s bake something else next time, Ci!:)

Oh, and one last thing. Since I couldn’t really explain the steps clearly (lol sorry!), you can have a proper instructions here: Semlor Recipe.

Count the memories, not the calories. 

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Lund, 09/02/2016.