
Fat Days
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The Swedish semla season reaches its peak on Shrove Tuesday, known in Sweden as Fettisdagen or "Fat Tuesday." A semla (plural: semlor) is a delicious sweet pastry ball filled with almond paste and whipped cream. They were traditionally eaten during the Christian Lenten season, but die-hard semla fans enjoy them from shortly after Christmas until Easter.
Semlor , or Semla in the singular (but let's be honest - a true Semla lover always eats at least two anyway, so we call them Semlor), are a sweet sin made of airy yeast dough with cardamom, delicious marzipan and a generous dollop of vanilla cream.
When: Shrove Tuesday in Sweden. Many bakeries and cafés try to outdo the competition by starting baking much earlier. Semla lovers rejoice, the more semlor, the better.
Where: In any self-respecting bakery or café.
Who: Semla addicts who eat it every day, traditionalists who only eat it on weekends, and finally the purists who actually only indulge in it on Shrove Tuesday.
Do it like the locals do: Start with the lid. Use it to scrape off some of the creamy filling. Continue with the rest of the yeast roll. The indulgent eats it straight from the hand. The connoisseur uses a fork, while the avant-gardist prefers a spoon. And tourists can be recognized by the way they uncertainly poke around inside. Traditionalists order a bowl of warm milk to accompany it. Whichever version you choose, a semla is always delicious.
(Text Visit-Sweden; there is also a recipe there.)
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