Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Fettisdagen or quite simply Semmeldagen in Swedish is approaching fast! This year it falls on February 16th (mark your calendars) and we can't wait to start feasting on semlor again.
In Denmark and Norway the celebration is known as Fastelavn and is also marked by eating the ever-so-famous white bun, known here as fastelavnsboller.

Semlan, is a fairly new invention but the tradition of eating pastries for Lent dates back to the Middle Ages. Back in the day it was only on the third day of Lent, on the actual Fat Tuesday, that it was allowed to feast on pastries but nowadays semlor are sold from Christmas to Easter. Personally we think January is a bit too early but once February hits we're good to go! Since today is February 1st, we have added products to the shop that are essential to bake this wonderfully creamy white bun. 

There are many different ways of making and eating the semla. Most people eat them as they are but an old tradition that lives on is that of eating it in warm milk, also known as hetvägg. Milk or no milk, that's up to you to decide. 
The sweet bun is made in various forms in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Here are two ways of making it:

Visit our Semlor collection for the essential ingredients and don't forget to show us your creations on Facebook and Instagram.

"Fun" fact: Did you know that King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden died on the 12th of February 1771 after having eaten....you guessed it- semlor. 14 of them!
Fat Tuesday was almost completely cancelled after this incident and semlor became known as "mördarsemlor" (murder buns). Thankfully Fat Tuesday and the semla survived and here we are in 2021 ready to have them again. Just don't have 14 ;)