Juhani’s parents are like professional berry pickers. Every year, they pick dozens of kilos of berries and store them in the freezer.

We were given a variety of berries to share, so I immediately baked a pie. Frozen berries tend to release their juice and color the dough easily. By mixing the berries with white sugar beforehand, the juice easily seeped out and the entire tart turned pink.

Of course, color is not the only goal. Lingonberries are a very sour berry. When the juice is mixed into the filling, it helps the flavors blend better with the berries.

You can also use a berry topping at the end like Cloudberry Pie, but I like this one.

Finnish Cloudberry Pie, LAKKAPIIRAKKA HILLAPIIRAKKA

Berries in Finland are strawberries, blueberries, and cloudberries. I used freshly picked cloudberries to make a traditional Finnish pie.

I’m not very good at baking. It’s hard for me to notice when I accidentally forget to add an ingredient. This time, I forgot to put eggs in both the dough and the filling. I’m surprised at myself. However, it turned out to be surprisingly delicious. The filling, in particular, was so good that Juhani, a Finnish who has eaten berry tarts for years, was impressed. Failure is the mother of success.

I have been experimenting with different whole wheat flours for the dough, including graham flour and barley flour.

Finnish Lingonberry Pie, PUOLUKKAPIIRAKKA

Name: Finnish Lingonberry Pie, PUOLUKKAPIIRAKKA
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 100 g butter; 60 g brown sugar; 1 egg (if you like, *1); 75 g wheat flour (*2); 50 g whole wheat flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 150 g lingonberry; 50 g white sugar; 250 g rahka (or cream cheese, *3); 50 g fresh cream; 1 egg (if you like, *4); 50 g lingonberry

When you make a tart with frozen berries, the berries color the dough. I took advantage of this and baked a lovely pink lingonberry pie.

Prep Time0 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Rest After Cook1 hr

KeywordDessert

Servings20 cm cake mold

INGREDIENTS

Pie dough

butter 100 g
brown sugar 60 g
egg (if you like, *1) 1
wheat flour (*2) 75 g
whole wheat flour 50 g
baking powder 1 tsp

Filling

lingonberry 150 g
white sugar 50 g
rahka (or cream cheese, *3) 250 g
fresh cream 50 g
egg (if you like, *4) 1

Topping

lingonberry 50 g

EQUIPMENT

20cm cake pan

Parchment paper

INSTRUCTIONS

Preparation

Thaw the lingonberries and mix the ones for the filling with the white sugar.
Bring butter to room temperature, or melt in the microwave.
Mix all the flour for the dough.
Line a cake pan with a cookie sheet.
Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Making the dough

Add the sugar to the butter and mix well.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Add the flour mixture in three parts, mixing well after each addition.
Put the dough into the cake pan. The dough is sticky, so you can use your fingers dipped in water to make the shape(*5).
Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. At this point, the dough should be raw.

Making the filling

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. The mixture will turn pink, and lightly crushing the lingonberries will make the color even darker.
Pour the filling over the baked dough.
Sprinkle the lingonberries on top of the filling.
Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
Cool thoroughly and refrigerate. The next day or later is best when the dough and filling are well blended.

NOTES

Adding egg to the dough makes it fluffier. Without the egg, the texture is rough.

All flour in Finland is strong flour.

Flour in Finland

Many different types of flour are sold in the markets. Which flour should I use? Which is the strongest flour? What about light flour?

For the filling, I use a dairy product called rahka. It is a product that is somewhere between yogurt and cheese, and can be substituted for cream cheese in this recipe.

Rahkat ja leivontatuotteet

Rahka on maitohyllyn moniottelija. Se on ruokaisa välipala ja monipuolinen jälkiruokien pohja. Leipurin käsissä rahka tekee taikojaan leivonnaisten täytteissä j...

If you add eggs to the filling, it will firm up. If you don’t add eggs, it will have a soft texture like a rare cheese cake.

If you use a 20cm diameter mold, the filling should be about 1cm thick. If you want to make a wall around it, a height of about 3 cm including the thickness of the bottom will be enough.

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