PrincessSemla, Swedish pastry

Instructions

FIRST DAY

Preparamos el mazapán.

1. Dissolve green coloring paste in the water. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl mix the ground almond with icing sugar, honey and water.
3. Start mixing the ingredients with the help of a silicone spatula. Once it begins to acquire a more solid consistency, knead it with our hands.
4. Knead the dough very well until a uniform, smooth and manageable consistency is achieved. It will take a while.
5. Shape a cylinder, wrap very well in film and let stand in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Make semla dough.

1. In the bowl of the stand mixer/kneader, add the flour together with the milk, egg, dry yeast and sugar. Knead at speed 1 for about 8-10 minutes. We will have to get a semi-developed dough.
2. Add honey along with salt and vanilla. Knead again until they are completely integrated.
3. Stop the stand mixer/kneader and start adding the butter little by little. Let it fully integrate into the dough before adding more.
4. Knead the dough until the gluten is well developed. It should be elastic, soft, smooth and not break.
5. Add the ground cardamom and knead again, for 2-3 minutes, to help it distribute evenly.
6. Shape into a ball with the dough and place inside a bowl or hermetic container. Cover with film or with its corresponding lid.
7. Leave it to rise to 1/3 of its volume. In my case it was 3 hours and 15 minutes at 70ºF/21ºC.
8. Refrigerate overnight.

SECOND DAY

Temper the dough and shape.

1. The dough must triple its volume. In case you have not done it in the refrigerator, leave it at room temperature until it reaches that size. If the dough has tripled, temper it 1-2 hours before working with it.
2. Depending on the temperature it can take more or less time. In my case it was 3 1/2 hours at 82,4ºF/28ºC controlled.
3. Divide the dough into 14 pieces of 70-75 g each.
4. Shape smoothly, without exerting too much tension. The softer you manipulate the dough, the more tender the final result will be. Remember that if you have created leftovers when dividing the dough, they should always remain in the centre of the piece..
5. In this case I decided not to preshape the dough, but to shape it directly.
6. Place the pieces on a perforated tray lined with baking paper. You will need two trays.
7. Cover with film and leave it to rise until it triples in size. In my case it was 3 hours at 82,4ºF/28ºC controlled. If it's less hot, it'll take longer to rise.

Bake.

1. Preheat oven to 355ºF/180ºC.
2. Brush them with beaten egg.
3. Bake at medium height for 12 minutes. Remember that the inside temperature must reach 190º-194ºF/88º-90ºC for the baking to be finished.
4. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely on a rack.
5. In the NOTES section, I tell you how to keep them for a long time.

Make whipped cream.

• Cream must be cold 24 hours before used it.
• The bowl in which we are going to make whipped cream must be cold. I recommend to use one aluminium bowl and freeze 20 minutes before beat it.

1. Pour heavy cream into freeze bowl and beat with an electric mixer into slow speed.
2. Once cream is becoming to form stiff peaks, add sugar little by little stirring the whole time. Increase speed gradually but without reaches high one. Ideally use medium speed.
3. Before finish to beat the cream, add vanilla extract and beat until get a perfect whipping cream. Be sure not to over-beat, otherwise cream will become lumpy and butter-like.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until used it.

Make almond cream.

1. In a bowl, add the almond with the icing sugar, vanilla and milk.
2. Mix until you get a paste.
3. Place in a piping bag. Set aside.

Cover the buns with the green marzipan.

1. Take 50 g of green marzipan and stretch it with a roller pin. To prevent it from sticking to the work surface and the roller, sprinkle with icing sugar.
2. We must stretch it until it reaches a diameter larger than the size of the bun. Be careful not to stretch the marzipan too much, as it will look translucent when placed on the roll and will not look good.
3. To help the marzipan adhere to the bun, slightly moisten the surface of the marzipan with water. Place it carefully on the roll and adjust it well.
4. Cut out the excess marzipan and fold the folds towards the base.
5. The leftovers can be joined with the rest of the marzipan to continue covering the buns.
6. Repeat the same process with the rest of the pieces.
7. In case you are going to leave them prepared in advance, but without filling, once you place the marzipan, wrap it with film individually and refrigerate it.

Assemble PrincessSemla.

1. Put the whipped cream in a piping bag with a 1M tip.
2. With the help of a knife, cut the top of the bun. We can do it in the shape of a triangle or in a circle. As you like it best.
3. When you cut the "lid", you must tilt the knife to cut at an angle.
4. Remove the part we have cut and put it aside.
5. Empty the buns a little, removing some crumbs.
6. Fill with a teaspoon of raspberry jam at the base.
7. Pipe the almond filling inside the seed until it reaches the surface.
8. Decorate with whipped cream.
9. Place the lid that we have cut off, sprinkle with icing sugar and decorate with a dried rose.
10. Repeat the same process with the rest of Princess Semla.
11. To serve it, the ideal is to place a Princess Semla in a bowl or a deep plate. Pour warm milk into the base and enjoy.
    

Notes

• Respect all the steps, rests and rising time to obtain a good result as much in flavor as in texture and sponginess.
• I recommend you to use a good quality butter because this will affect the final taste of the dough.
• They last in perfect condition for 4 days stored in a zip-type bag at room temperature (if it's not too hot). From here, they will begin to lose tenderness.
• If we want to preserve the buns for several days/weeks (without marzipan or filling) while maintaining the same freshness as the day we baked them, we will do the following. Once they have cooled completely, store them in zip-type freezer bags of 2 in 2 (or more if you wish) and freeze. When we want to consume them, remove them from the freezer the night before and leave them at room temperature. The next morning they will be as freshly baked, very tender.
• If it is a time of the year when it is very hot, in 2-3 hours they will be thawed and ready to eat.
• The green marzipan, this time, I made it homemade. It's very rich in flavor and with a perfect texture. But, if you prefer, you can buy it done.
• If you want the cream to be thicker, you can add mascarpone. That way you will get a much firmer consistency. In this post you can see how to do it.
• They can be kept refrigerated, once they are assembled, for 2 days.
  

Archivado en

• Almonds
• Breakfast
• Cardamom
• Marzipan
• Raspberry
• Whipped Cream