Laskiaispulla bring Finnish fun at Shrovetide

 
Laskiaispulla

Shrovetide is a wonderful time to visit Finland, when you can delight in scrumptious cream sleigh buns called Laskiaispulla. Laskiainen is the season associated with Shrove Tuesday which heralds the beginning of Lent. In Finland it’s often described as a ‘sledging or sliding’ festival when families enjoy the snow and sun after a hard winter. After spending time sledging outside, it’s customary to serve pea soup with ham and cheese with sleigh buns or pancakes to follow as a dessert.

What are Laskiaispulla?

These mouth-watering soft cinnamon buns have a sweet filling of whipped cream with strawberry or raspberry jam or almond paste. They became popular from the 19th century onwards.

What you need
For the dough:
250ml milk

1 sachet/10g yeast

(or 25g fresh yeast)

100g granulated white sugar

(infused with vanilla extract)

½ tsp salt
1 tbsp ground cardamom

420g plain flour
100g butter

For the topping

1 egg

Flaked almonds (optional)
Granulated sugar (or pearl sugar if available)

For the filling
500ml double or whipping cream
150g icing sugar
Jam (Strawberry or Raspberry)

or Almond Paste

(Makes about 20 buns)

 

How to bake

Warm the milk to 37C. Place in a large bowl and mix well.  Whisk in the vanilla sugar, salt, and cardamom. Stir in the flour gradually to make a dough and knead it until it becomes elastic. Add the butter and continue to knead for about five minutes. When the dough has formed a smooth ball, place it in another greased/oiled bowl, cover with a towel and leave in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes. The dough should double in size. Put the dough onto a well-floured surface. Cut pieces of the dough and shape into round balls. Place them onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover the buns with a towel and let them rise again for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Whisk the egg and brush it on the tops of the buns. Sprinkle granulated (or pearl) sugar or chopped almond on top if desired. Then bake the buns for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool.

To decorate

Whip the cream with the icing sugar (reserving a little to sprinkle on the buns later). Slice the buns and fill with cream and strawberry or raspberry jam or almond paste. Sprinkle icing sugar on top if desired.

And if you enjoyed these, here's another Finnish recipe for Runeberg Cakes which are a favourite of ours.  

Something different for Pancake Day ‘Ficelles Picardes’

Ficelles Picardes - Delicieux!

On Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday I love to cook this fabulous recipe my French friend, Francoise gave me some years ago when I lived in France. Francoise comes from Amiens in the Picardy area of northern France and this is a traditional recipe from that area. The pancakes or crepes, make a savoury dish called ‘Ficelles Picardes’ – which translates as ‘Picardy strings’. 

I use Grandma’s recipe for the pancakes which always works a treat. The pancakes, together with a slice of ham are stuffed with mushrooms, then covered with crème fraiche, sprinkled with Gruyere cheese and cooked in a casserole dish in the oven until they are crisp and bubbling.  Superbe!

Ficelles Picardes   

For the pancakes :

125g/4 ½ oz plain flour

3 eggs

1 pinch salt

275ml ( approx ½ pint) milk

Melted butter or oil for frying

To make the batter, place the flour, salt and eggs in a basin and mix well. Add enough milk to make a thin batter. Then leave to stand. Then make about 8 individual small pancakes. Heat the butter or oil in a small frying pan until very hot. Pour enough batter to cover the base. Cook each side in turn. Leave the pancakes to cool and prepare the mushroom mixture.

For the filling and topping

2 shallots (finely chopped)

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 Lemon  - juice

8 slices ham

6-8 mushrooms

Salt and pepper

3 dsps crème fraiche

Gruyere cheese (grated)

A little butter

Fry the chopped mushrooms in butter and lemon juice, add the shallot, parsley and salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Add 1 dsp of cream fraiche.  Place a slice of the ham on each pancake and then some of the mushroom mixture. Roll up each pancake and arrange together in a heat proof dish.

Pour the crème fraiche into the frying pan with a little butter to warm through.  Now pour it over the pancakes and sprinkle with grated Gruyere cheese. Brown lightly, either under the grill or on the top shelf of a hot oven. The pancakes can be made and stuffed in advance then finished off with the crème fraiche and cheese before serving.

Traditional pancakes 

For more Pancake recipes take at look at some traditional Pancakes I found in an old newspaper cutting in Grandma’s collection. Whether you're enjoying savoury pancakes or traditional pancakes with orange juice, have a good time flippin' pancakes on Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday. 

Bon appétit!