Finland

Epicurean Eats

Finland is a beautiful country that gets its charms from its wilderness, summer days, snowfall, and culinary delights. During summer and early autumn, the country burst into life and the forests are covered in nutrient-rich

arctic superfoods. The season is bountiful and berries and mushrooms grow to fill one’s basket of good food.

Minna Luoma loves her home country, especially for its nature. But while in Saudi with her husband HE Antti Rytövuori, Finland’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, she enjoys the sounds of birdsong in the mornings and the eternal Saudi sunshine. She is a graphic designer and she’s very enthusiastic about culture and new experiences.

MUSTIKKAPIIRAKKA (Traditional Finnish Bilberry Pie)

Berry pies and tarts are an essential part of Finnish summer. This easy-to-bake delicious summer dessert can also be made with frozen or dried blueberries.

SERVINGS

8

TIME

45 MIN

46 METHOD DIFFICULTY

BAKED EASY

Crust ⅔ cups butter ⅔ cups caster sugar 1 egg ½ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder

Filling 2 cups bilberries or blueberries, fresh or frozen 2 tablespoon potato flour or corn flour 1 cup quark, sour cream or labnah 0.2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar 1 egg 1 small lemon or lime zest (optional)

Crumble ⅓ stick butter 0.2 cups sugar 0.4 cups flour

Preparation

Mix the softened butter and sugar.

Add the egg and mix until combined.

Stir the dry ingredients together, add to the mixture and mix until combined.

Let the dough set in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Press the dough onto the bottom and the sides of the pie pan (30 cm size pie form).

Mix the frozen blueberries with potato or corn flour, and spread over the crust.

Mix the quark/labnah, egg, sugars and grated lemon zest together, and pour evenly over the berries.

Stir the crumble ingredients together until the texture is even crumb texture and then cover the pie with the crumble mixture.

Bake in preheated oven (200°C) on the lowest level of the oven for about 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow to rest for a few minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or vanilla sauce.

Tips

When using frozen blueberries (instead of bilberries) reduce the amount of sugar and add some grated lemon or lime to give the tart more flavor.

It tastes divine and goes great with coffee, tea or a glass of cold milk. To experience the best that Finland has to offer, you really have to try a korvapuusti, Finland’s version of “slapped ears”: cardamom buns filled with sugar and cinnamon.

Ingredients

SERVINGS

20-30 ROLLS

TIME

2.5 HOURS

METHOD BAKED

cups + 2 tablespoon milk tablespoon dry yeast egg cup + 2 tablespoon granulated sugar teaspoon fine sea salt tablespoon ground cardamom cups white wheat flour (all-purpose) cup soft butter 2 2.5 1 ¾ 1 ½ 1-2 5-6 1/3

Filling cup soft butter tablespoon granulated sugar tablespoon cinnamon 1/3 6 2

Finishing egg1

Decoration Pearl sugar, to sprinkle

DIFFICULTY HARD

Tips

The cinnamon rolls are best eaten while still slightly warm or on the same day. However, you can freeze them once baked and warm them up when ready to serve.

For the best results, make sure that all your ingredients are at room temperature. You can leave the egg out and, furthermore, substitute the milk with water and butter with oil.

Start by taking butter to soften in room temperature for about an hour before you start to make the dough.

Warm up the milk so that it’s luke warm. When using fresh yeast the temperature should be 98.6°F, for dry yeast 108°F-110°F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the lukewarm milk and fresh crumbled yeast. If using instant active dry yeast, combine yeast with some flour and add to the warm milk. Stir with a spoon until the yeast is dissolved.

Add sugar, salt, cardamom, and egg and mix well with hand whisk.

Next start adding the flour by whisking in milk to make the dough airy. Knead well.

Add butter and knead until well combined. Add just enough flour so the dough comes clean off the sides of the bowl and doesn’t stick to your hand. Shape into a ball and cover with a clean kitchen towel.

Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until double in size.

To shape and bake the rolls: As the dough is rising, take the butter to be used for the filling from the fridge and let it soften at room temperature.

Lightly flour a clean work surface with all-purpose wheat flour. Pour the dough to the table, knead it thoroughly to remove all the air bubbles and split it in two parts.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the first portion of dough into a large, about 60-by-40-centimeter / 23-by-16-inch rectangle.

Spread the softened butter with a knife on the dough sheet. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of the butter layer.

Beginning with the long side, roll the dough into a tight tube shape, seam side down.

Cut the roll into to a triangle-shaped pieces.

Place the pieces on the table the narrower side facing up. Use your thumb to press the top of the pieces all the way to the bottom so that the “ears” of the roll pop out.

Lift the ready buns on the baking tray on a baking sheet, spacing them about 5 cm / 2” apart.

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for further 30 minutes, or until they’re double in size. Repeat with the second batch.

Preheat the oven to 225°C (435°F).

When the oven is ready and the korvapuustis have risen, finish them by applying egg with a baking brush. Decorate the cinnamon rolls with pearl sugar or fine sugar if you wish.

Bake in 225ºC for 10-15 minutes or until golden to darkish brown in color. When the rolls are done, the bottoms will most probably be dark brown in color; this is totally normal and typical for Nordic cardamom-spiced sweetbread. Repeat with the other sheets of rolls.

Let the baked rolls cool down on a rack under a cloth.