Semlor buns: a Scandi treat for Shrove Tuesday

• 12 February 2021, 5:59am
• From Spectator Life

• Text settings

  Text size

  • Small
  • Medium
  • Large

  Line Spacing

  • Compact
  • Normal
  • Spacious
• Comments
• Share

  Share

  The Spectator

  Semlor buns: a Scandi treat for Shrove Tuesday

  

  Copy link

  • Linkedin
  • Messenger
  • Email

Already a subscriber? Log in

This article is for subscribers only

Subscribe today to get 3 months' delivery of the magazine, as well as online and app access, for only £3.

• Weekly delivery of the magazine
• Unlimited access to our website and app
• Enjoy Spectator newsletters and podcasts
• Explore our online archive, going back to 1828

Most popular

Alexander Larman

What happened to the Rishi Sunak I knew at school?

Makes: 9

Takes: 30 minutes, plus proving

Bakes: 10 minutes

For the buns

350g strong white bread flour

7.5g dried, instant yeast

150ml whole milk

1 egg

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

40g caster sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

80g butter, soft

1 egg yolk, to glaze

For the almond paste

100g marzipan

2 tablespoons double cream

Crumbs, reserved from buns

For the cream

200g double cream

50g icing sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla paste

1. Place all the dough ingredients except the butter in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix them into a dough, and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Knead in the butter in four additions, each time thoroughly mixing in the piece before adding the rest.
2. Divide the dough into 9 even pieces. Take one of the pieces, flatten it with the palm of your hand, then fold the edges into the middle. Turn the ball over so that the seam is on the work surface, and the smooth side if facing up. Cage your hand over the ball: make fast small circular motions over the ball of dough. This will smooth the ball of dough, and tighten it. Transfer to a lined baking tray, and repeat with the other pieces of dough, spacing well apart.
3. Cover the tray of dough balls lightly with a piece of clingfilm, and leave to prove for 90 minutes, until the dough balls are visibly increased in size.
4. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Remove the clingfilm and brush each of the buns gently with egg yolk. Bake for 10 minutes until the buns are golden, taut and puffed. Leave to cool completely.
5. Using a sharp knife cut a piece from the top of the bun – this can just be the very top of the bun, or you can cut it into a shape, like a triangle or square. Reserve the piece you’ve cut away, and use a knife or teaspoon to dig out a cavity from the bun, about a third the depth of the whole bun.
6. Mix the breadcrumbs you’ve removed with the marzipan and 2 tablespoons of double cream, to form a thick paste. Divide the almond paste between the bun cavities.
7. Whisk the cream with icing sugar and vanilla paste to medium peaks, so that the cream holds its own weight. Spoon the cream into a piping bag fitted with a large, open star nozzle.
8. Pipe tall swirls of the cream directly on top of the almond paste. Place the reserved bun tops on the swirl of cream, dust with a little extra icing sugar, and serve. The buns are best eaten on the day of assembly.