Bolludagur: Bun Day

Bolludagur is a Lenten festival and takes place on the Monday, just before what we'd call Shrove Tuesday and Icelanders traditionally stuff themselves with cream-filled buns.

The custom dates from the late nineteenth century and was probably introduced by Danish or Norwegian bakers, although some edible treats would have been eaten on this day much earlier.

Much of the bun eating now takes place on Sunday, however, since Monday is a workday and there's less time for baking, well at least for those inclined to do a spot of home baking. Although, these days it is very easy to buy ready-made ones from the shops.

This day also used to be called flengingardagur (Spanking Day). In earlier and exceptionally devout times, Catholic people would flagellate themselves, to be reminded of the pain endured by Jesus. Later, this practice evolved into a comical parody of sorts and people began spanking each other! 

The aim of the 'game' is try and catch someone still in bed and give them a good beating, using a special wand. Children give their parents a merciless wake-up call using their brightly decorated sticks, and for every whack of the wand and shouts of Bolla! bolla! bolla, they expect to be rewarded with a bun.

Bun Day is big business for Icelandic bakeries. It is estimated that they sell around one million buns on or around the day, which means almost four buns for every Icelander!

If you fancy sharing in some Icelandic bun delights, we have found a very traditional recipe from the book Icelandic Food and Cookery, by Nana Rögnvaldardóttir.

Bolludagsbollur

Makes approx 16 buns

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom or grated zest of 1 lemon

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 cups whipped cream

8 oz chocolate, melted

Method

Preheat the oven to 375F. Cream butter and sugar and whisk in the eggs, one at a time. 

Add the cardamom or lemon zest. Sift the flour with the baking powder and stir until thoroughly blended but do not over mix.

Scoop up the dough with a tablespoon and make small mounds on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper – there should be around 16 buns in all. 

Bake in the centre of the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the buns begin to brown at the edge. They will spread out somewhat but should be around 1 inch thick in the middle.

Let them cool on a rack, then split each bun in half and pipe a generous dollop of cream on the bottom half. Dip the upper half in melted chocolate and sandwich the bun together.

Click here to see slideshow (on Iceland Review's website) about the buns.

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