Laura Walton

Finnish Shrove Tuesday Buns (Laskiaispulla)

Happy February and Groundhog Day, everyone!

It’s getting closer to Lent, y’all, so it’s time to stock up on all of the rich, indulgent foods before a season of sacrifice. Woohoo!

Today’s recipe is for Finnish Shrove Tuesday Buns, or laskiaispulla, a delightful soft pastry filled with almond paste, whipped cream, and sometimes jam. Other parts of Scandinavia have similar pastries, such as Swedish semla. (Once upon a time at a holiday market, a customer asked if I knew what semla were, and after seeing a picture, I knew, like her, that I had to have them in my life. Period.)

Like any pre-Lent recipe, this pastry uses all manner of rich ingredients to celebrate Shrove Tuesday (AKA Fat Tuesday): sugar, cream, spices, eggs, everything! So if you’re looking to have something sweet and different with your coffeetime, try your hand at these delightful buns – you won’t be disappointed.

A few notes before the recipe:

  1. As mentioned before, these buns are chock full of rich (re: heavy) ingredients, with a small amount of yeast to compensate. That being said, the dough will be denser and may not rise as much as cinnamon roll dough. This is normal.
  2. You can play with the size of buns here, but I recommend keeping them on the smallish side (28-32 buns), since they’re so indulgent. 24 will make huge sweet rolls, so you do you. You can even make them smaller (36 buns) if you’re looking for mini-pastries.
  3. To cardamom or not to cardamom? My original recipe has no spices in it, but cardamom would not be amiss here, and I’m sure some people would argue that the buns must have it. Spice to your own taste.
  4. Make sure you cut the tops while the buns are still warm, but wait until the buns are cool to fill them.
  5. These are best eaten the day they are made, especially with whipped cream involved. If you don’t plan to eat or serve the whole batch at once, put whipped cream only on those you plan to eat, and store the remaining cream and pastries separately in the fridge, adding cream when serving. But seriously, try to serve them within a day.

With that in mind, let’s make some buns!

Laskiaispulla (Finnish Shrove Tuesday Buns)

  • Servings: 30-32 rolls
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Changing the size affects the baketime - adjust accordingly. Fill these with almost paste, cream, and jam (if desired).

you will need:

  • 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast (1 package)
  • ¼ c warm water (110-115 degrees F)
  • 1 c whole milk, room temperature
  • 1 c granulated sugar
  • ½ tsp ground cardamom (optional)
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • ¾ c (1 ½ sticks) softened unsalted butter
  • 5 ½ – 6 c all-purpose flour
    • For the fillings and topping:
  • 2 c (8 oz) almond flour or ground blanched almonds
  • 1 c powdered sugar
  • 2 c whipping cream
  • fruit jam (optional)
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • Swedish pearl sugar or powdered sugar for dusting
  • sliced almonds (optional)

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water, and allow to bloom for 5 minutes. Stir in sugar, salt, cardamom (if using), milk, and eggs. Add the butter and 2 c of the flour, and beat until well incorporated. Stir in additional flour until dough is stiff and cannot easily absorb more flour. Cover and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
  2. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough until smooth and satiny, about 8-10 minutes. (You can also use a stand mixer with a bread hook.) Place dough into a greased bowl, turn to grease all sides, cover, and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
  3. Lightly oil or flour a work surface, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. Turn dough out onto surface, and divide evenly into desired number of pastries (I like multiples of 4, since it’s easiest to divide pieces evenly in half). Shape each dough piece into a ball, place onto prepared baking sheets, smooth side up, and flatten each lightly with your palm. Let rise until puffy, about 30-45 minutes.
  4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine beaten egg with 1 tbsp water, brush each roll with the eggwash, then sprinkle with pearl sugar and almonds, if using. Bake for 10-12 minutes (adjust accordingly if your rolls are small) until golden – do not overbake! Remove from baking sheets and allow to cool briefly on wire racks.
  5. Meanwhile, prepare your filling. Combine almond flour, powdered sugar, and ½ c of the whipping cream in a medium bowl until a smooth paste forms.
  6. While the rolls are still warm (but not hot), cut a lid off of each roll (about ½ inch down), and using a teaspoon, pull out a little of the dough from the center of each roll (about 1 tsp). (This is the baker’s snack, and should be eaten accordingly.) Allow rolls to cool completely before proceeding. If you’re using jam, place about ½ tsp of jam into each roll. Place a spoonful (depending on the size of your rolls, this will be anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon) of almond filling into each roll.
  7. Whip the remaining cream, sweetening with up to 1 ½ tablespoons of granulated sugar. Put a spoonful of cream on each roll after the almond filling, and replace the lids. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve immediately, and store any leftovers in the fridge for up to a day or so for best texture and taste.

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