Finnish blueberry pie-mustikkapiirakka

This Finnish blueberry pie is made with sour cream in the filling. You can use bilberries or blueberries. This is a single crust pie that is also flavored with a hint of cardamom.

You might think of a cheesecake when you eat this, but the base has more like a spice cake consistency.

History

Mustikka is blueberry(bilberry) in Finnish and piirakka is pie. This style of pie is also sometimes called mummon mustikkapiirakka meaning grannies blueberry pie. This pie recipe and variations of it have been made for a long time in Finland and are passed on to the next generations in handwritten cookbooks. This is a pie my mum used to make all the time when I was a kid.

This pie is usually made with kermaviili which is a natural jogurt-style milk product, but is only sold in Finland. I made this variation with US measurements and replacements so you can also get a taste of this delicious traditional pie.

This is not the only type of blueberry pie we make in Finland. We also love to make pies with pulla dough crust. Also, big sheet cake-style pies and pies with no milk products are made. Blueberry crumble with vanilla custard or vanilla ice cream are also popular. This Swedish blueberry crumble pie is also made in Finland, and is absolutely delicious. Blueberry jam is used to make big round pulla buns filled with the jam in the middle, you can find these sold in the grocery stores also.

Ingredients

• Blueberries or bilberries
• Sour cream or plain yogurt
• Butter. Can be replaced with margarine.
• Sugar. Brown sugar works well also.
• Eggs
• Starch, you can use potato-, corn-, or tapioca starch
• All-purpose wheat flour
• Baking powder. You can leave this out if you use self rising flour.
• Cardamom. Remember that green pod cardamom is used, not the black pods, they taste very different.
• Vanilla extract. In Finland we use vanilla sugar, but this is also usually only sold in the North.

Replacements for filling

All of these listed below can be used for the filling and even mixed with each other

• Sour cream
• Creme fraice-this is a bit tangier in taste
• Plain jogurt
• Turkish jogurt
• Vanilla jogurt- you don't need as much additional sugar using this
• Kermaviili-Finnish sour cream

Can you make the pie with frozen blueberries?

Frozen blueberries work fine for the pie as long as you remember to add starch mixed around them. Otherwise, your pie might come out a bit soggy or the crust not fully baked.

Difference between blueberries and bilberries

Bilberries are forest blueberries that grow in the Scandinavian forests and northern parts of Europe. They are smaller and darker in color than North American blueberries. They are also tangier in taste, the flesh is dark blue, and reddish in color and makes stains that are hard to wash away. Blueberries are sweeter and have whiter flesh. Bilberry season in the north is from July-August.

The bilberries are not evergreen and lose their leaves for the winter. In the autumn the leaves become reddish in color before falling away. Bilberries can be picked longer in the autumn, but the berries' taste becomes more watery the longer in the autumn they are left in the stems.

We love to pick a lot of blueberries and freeze them for the winter to use in pies, smoothies, cakes, jams, and juices.

This pie in the pictures is made using bilberries, as we do in Finland. You can definitely use blueberries also, it will be just as good

Equipment

I used a 28 cm round pie pan from IKEA. This is around 11 inches. If you use a smaller diameter the base comes out a bit thicker, and this might affect the baking time for the pie; you can leave it for an extra five minutes in the oven with foil on top, so it does not burn.

Instructions

1. Whip the room-temperature butter and sugar.

2. Add the egg and vanilla extract and whip to a smooth consistency.

3. Mix the dry ingredients

4. Add them to the butter mix. Do not whip too much, but just enough to get everything mixed.

5. You can add a thin layer of oil to your cake pan if you want to. Add the batter and spread it evenly with your hand. You can have some flour on your fingers to keep them from sticking.

6. Mix the sour cream, egg, sugar, and vanilla.

7. Mix the starch with your blueberries. Add them as an even layer on your base. (If you want, you can save some berries as decoration on top. )

8. Spread the sour cream mix on top of the blueberries as an even layer. Bake at 350 F for around 40 minutes until the rim has some color.

The top can have some brown spots, they taste delicious, a bit caramelly.
Let the pie cool down before serving. The middle is wobbly when you take it out from the oven, but it sets when cooled.

You might wonder if you must pre-bake the pie crust before filling it. As you can see in the pics, I used very watery, thawed frozen bilberries and did not pre-bake the pie. I came out just perfect still, not at all soggy.

Diet variations

• Gluten-free. This pie is easy to make gluten-free. Just use a gluten-free flour mix instead of wheat flour.
• Milk-free. For a milk-free version, you need to replace the butter with margarine. Instead of sour cream, you can use soy yogurt. I love Alpro greek style vanilla yogurt in this pie, I just add less sugar to the filling since vanilla yogurt is sweeter. In a vegan version, the egg can also be left away.

Storing

Store this pie in the fridge. It keeps for 3-4 days. It can be frozen if you did not use frozen blueberries in the recipe. I love to warm my pie for just a few seconds in the microwave before eating it.

Common questions

Other Finnish sweet recipes you might like

• Strawberry cake-mansikkakakku
• Spoon cookies-lusikkaleivät
• Oven pancake-pannukakku
• Finnish cinnamon rolls-korvapuusti
• Raspberry-caramel cake-kiuskikakku
• Spice cake-maustekkku