Swedish Lent Buns & Homemade Almond Paste

Today is a special day for all semla-lovers around the world. It's Shrove Tuesday.

However, the old tradition of eating a plain cardamom-flavoured wheat bun filled with whipped cream and almond paste tends to begin earlier and earlier each year. In December, I went to a bakery where lent buns were available just after Christmas.

In February 2007 I posted a semla recipe. You can find it here 4 Semla . At least one American blogger tried that recipe. Well, now I can't find the blog who was linking to my blog, but I remember she had some trouble with the amount of flour - which doesn't surprise me at all.

Flours are rarely equal. They don't have the same properties everywhere. Baking recipes from other countries have to be changed to work well.

Usually I purchase ready made almond paste for the semla filling. Last week I found a very interesting homemade almond paste recipe on a Swedish blog. I had to print it out. You can find it here 4 Semlor. Take a look at Linda's semlor. They are really baked gems.

This is a translation of Linda's homemade almond paste recipe. Perfect recipe for semla fillings:

Homemade Semla Filling
* 200 grams almonds, blanched, skin removed, finely chopped
* 1 dl (100 ml) icing sugar
* 1 dl (100 ml) caster sugar
* 2 small boiled cold potatoes, finely grated
* 4 bitter almonds, finely grated
* cream or milk

METHOD:
1. Place the almonds in a food processor; cover and process until smooth.
2. Pour into a bowl.
3. Add the grated potatoes, icing sugar, caster sugar and bitter almonds.
4. Stir until everything is well blended.
5. Add milk/cream until desired consistency is reached.

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