International Cooking: Laskiaispulla

Photo Credit: All photos provided by Gianna Beltramo

By Gianna Beltramo

Laskiaispulla. Also known as semla and fastelavnsboller, among other things, this traditional pastry is eaten in a variety of Northern European countries. There are small differences between each version, but I have decided to focus on the Finnish form, laskiaispulla. They are traditionally prepared during the Lent and Easter season, hence the more generic category they fall under: Shrovetide buns. However, the food actually predates Christianity; Laskiainen is an ancient Finnish holiday in celebration of the beginning of spring which has incorporated elements of Christian tradition. Laskiaispulla themselves are cardamom-seasoned pastries which are often served cut in half with a filling of whipped cream or strawberry or raspberry jam, though I believe that they are just as good plain.

I baked these! It was certainly an experience.

I haven’t baked anything in a while, so it was fun to get back into it, if only for a day. I discovered that cardamom is woefully expensive and that vanilla sugar is not exactly a common ingredient. (I ended up having to substitute it for a mix of vanilla extract and sugar, but it turned out fine.)

The following are a few of the thoughts that were running through my mind over the course of the morning:

“Is this wrong? This is wrong”

“Should I be using a whisk right now?”

“Oh wait...that says teaspoons, not tablespoons”

“I was probably supposed to melt the butter first, wasn’t I?”

“THE YEAST”

For the record, I absolutely loathe yeast. I’ve only baked with it a handful of times, and there’s a reason for that. It’s so...clumpy. I do not like it. Yet I swallowed down my ill sentiments and got on with it. Until I realized that instead of “2 heaping teaspoons of vanilla sugar,” I’d added two tablespoons. Already off to a great start! So, like any sane person, I took the first solution that came to mind, which happened to be eating the excess (which was a lot). It was disgusting. And of course, immediately after I’d decided I had a sufficient amount of sugar left, I realized that I could have just used less normal sugar instead of subjecting myself to multiple spoonfuls of pure sugary torment.

In retrospect, I probably should have paid more attention to the recipe, because I also forgot the butter, which led to me ultimately getting covered up to my forearms in butter-dough slime, a substance that is neither pleasant to the touch nor easy to wash off.

Another interesting dilemma I encountered: the recipe does not mention how big each chunk of dough should be when you separate it into individual buns. The Internet had no answers, so as someone who had never eaten a laskiaispulla in my life, I was left attempting to gauge the size based on the ratio of whipped cream to bread in the pictures. This also was relatively unsuccessful, so I ended up making some 2-inch ones and some 3- to 4-inch ones, just in case.

I baked them at 400℉ for 15 minutes, and somehow all of them were perfect despite some being 4 times as big as others. Except for the bottoms, which were solid black but still tasted good. Baking is crazy like that. 

I had one straight out of the oven to make sure it was cooked properly, and it tasted amazing. I’d never had cardamom before, and I am obsessed. It was crispy and golden on the outside and so nice and warm and excellent-smelling on the inside. And the bit of crunch from the almonds was great; it really accented the softness of the whole thing.

Cardamom is officially my new favorite spice. 

Later that evening, I whipped up a batch of homemade whipped cream (which basically means that I just dumped a bunch of stuff I thought was in whipped cream in a bowl and mixed it) and it actually turned out really good. The coolness was a delightful addition to the warm spices, though it was a bit hard to keep that much cream inside the two halves of the bun without making a mess.

All in all, it was a fun little project. Amazing flavor, good smells, aesthetic Pinterest-esque photos, the whole nine yards. I do have some questions about the appearance of the finished project, however. Judging from the photos of laskiaispulla I was able to find on the Internet, mine turned out a bit...crispy. They also broke apart a bit while baking, which I don’t think they were meant to do, but that was a direct result of me not knowing how big to make them. I tried to cut the decorative almonds into slivers, but my almonds were strangely crumbly and altogether uncooperative so I had to make do with chunks. Other than those two things, I believe it turned out perfectly.

The recipe was super easy to follow and the end result was amazing. 11/10 would recommend.

Jokes aside, here is the recipe I used if you want to give it a try. If you’re considering it, definitely give it a go sometime!