“It was my husband who had the idea,” Jennifer Barmer, who runs the vegan food blog Living Green together with him, told The Local. “He has several friends who have baked using breast milk.”

Swedes gorge on saffron buns – called lussekatter or lussebullar – every year on and around December 13th, the day the saint Lucia is celebrated across the Nordic country.

So Barmer spent a few days collecting the spare milk left over from breastfeeding her young baby before she baked a batch of the buns a couple of days ahead of Lucia.

“They turned out great. If I hadn't known it was breast milk I would just have thought they were ordinary Lucia buns with a bit more sugar than usual,” she said.

READ ALSO: Six things not to tell a Swede on Lucia day

While Sweden has a reputation for being tolerant and family friendly, the subject of breastfeeding has been hotly debated in recent years. Add to the equation that breast milk Lucia buns are not particularly common, and Barmer's twist on the recipe quickly went viral.

The former contestant of TV baking competition Hela Sverige Bakar (based on The Great British Bake Off) said the reactions have been both positive and negative.

“Many women have said that they've also used breast milk to make for example pancakes, but have not dared to say anything. Sometimes someone has to be the first one to say it for others to dare admit it too. It shows how shameful breast milk is still considered to be.”

“Others have said things like 'yuck', 'disgusting', 'breast milk is for babies'. And these are people who drink a different kind of breast milk, from the cow, on a daily basis,” she added.

If you want to make breast milk-based Lucia buns yourself, Barmer suggests using the same amount of milk as normal, but slightly less sugar than the recipe states – unless you prefer sweeter buns.

For the less brave among you, here's a recipe for cow's milk-based Lucia buns.

READ ALSO: Swedish racer defends eating her own horse