Heitevegger

The story

Heitevegger are plain cardamom wheat buns eaten in a deep plate of hot, sweetened milk, and in Norway they belong above all to Bergen and to Fastelavn, the Shrovetide days before Lent. Store norske leksikon traces the name to the German heisse Wecke, hot wedges, and suggests the custom reached Bergen through trade with the Hanseatic League. The first buns were wedge-shaped. Cooks cut off the top, scooped out the inside, filled the hollow with butter, and poured hot milk over it. In Catholic times such buns were eaten on Shrove Tuesday, feittirsdag, two days after Fastelavn Sunday. In some places the day was also called kvittirsdag, white Tuesday, because so much milk food was eaten before the 40-day fast of Lent. Today there is a simple way and a festive way. In the simple one, milk or cream is boiled with sugar, butter and cinnamon or cardamom and poured over the buns. In the festive one, the buns are hollowed out and filled with almond paste, cream, egg yolk and lemon zest before the hot milk goes on. In 2027 Shrove Tuesday falls on February 9. Bake the buns that morning or the day before, and heat the milk only when everyone is at the table.