Thursday, June 23, 2011

Breakfast Club: Finnish Blueberry-Filled Buns (Mustikkapiiraat)


Helen at Fuss Free Flavours started Breakfast Club last year, but this is my first time to participate. Thanks to Nayna at simply.food for hosting Breakfast Club #12: Berries.


Finnish Blueberry Buns

I fully intended to post a recipe for my adaptation of this recipe (I made it in the bread machine), but I think I need another go-round. I loved the idea of putting cardamom in the dough, but I don't think there was enough, because I couldn't taste it at all. Also, the blueberry filling wasn't as tasty as I had hoped. It has a whopping 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in it and I could definitely taste it. They're not bad, but they're not as good as I hoped they would be, but they're promising enough to tweak a bit and try again.

The recipe is from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas, which I picked up in Lindsborg ("Little Sweden USA") in December when Paul and I drove up there for the St. Lucia festival. It's a really cute little town that has a wonderfully preserved downtown that's very pedestrian-friendly. Lindsborg is about 72 miles north and a bit west of Wichita and 20 miles south of Salina.  It's cold there in December.

Naturally, I didn't take my camera, but here's a photo I found on flickr of Lindsborg's Main Street in the summer. The little painted horse is one of many "Wild" Dalas in downtown Lindsborg. You can click on the photo to enlarge.

Main Street, Lindsborg, Kansas

This is where we had a yummy lunch, a cinnamon roll and lots of coffee:
lindsborg_butcher

Another of the dalas:

lindsborg_horse

We also visited the McPherson County Old Mill Museum which included a tour of the town's old flour mill:
Old Mill

We had a really awesome tour guide who currently works at one of the flour mills in Salina. He was one of the most knowledgable history museum guides I've ever met.

My favorite part of the museum, though, was the charmingly absurd and slightly creepy cabinet of curiosities directly past the museum gift shop (where I bought the cookbook). There's an entire room full of mangey taxidermal examples of local wildlife from birds to bobcats. Everyone else did a quick once-over, commented with disgust and moved on.  Paul and I examined every sparrow, snake and skunk. To us, it went a little way toward making up for the fact that we hadn't heard of Deyrolle until after we had been to Paris. Alas, I could find no photos online. I guess I'll just have to go back and take some in a crafty manner. I promise not to use a flash.

15 comments:

  1. Interesting small town. And I do hope you can sneak photos of that creepy cabinet of critters.

    The blueberry buns look yummy; I can almost smell and taste them!

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  2. Those buns look delicious. I love breadlike dows and summer fruit, those must be sooo tasty.

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  3. Those blueberry buns look fabulous!! Great job. I have that cookbook and love it. I want to make those buns, but I will bear in mind your observation about the cardamom and the cornstarch in the blueberry filling. I think Julia of Melanger made this same recipe and loved it (and I think her husband is Finnish.)

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  4. Well, your buns look spectacular...and I love the idea of blueberry filling! I'm sure with a few tweaks they'll taste as incredible as they look :)

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  5. I love neat little small towns like that! It's too bad the buns weren't quite up to your standard, they look yummy. I'm sure they'll be great if you tweak them next time!

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  6. The dalas is so cute! The town must look so fun with those little dalas spread around! :)

    -j
    sorelle in style

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  7. So glad you included pictures of Lindsborg and the Dahlas. Such a cute place. Your daddy and I love our presents that came from there! It is too bad we hadn't heard of Deyrolle - their site is pretty amazing! Tweak your recipe and we can make them when you're here!

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  8. They do look good. One tablespoon of cornstarch does sound excessive, it might have been a typo and should call for 1 teaspoon.
    I like the fun field trip. It looks like a cute, interesting town.
    Thanks for the link to Deyrolle. I let my fingers do the flying and took at quick trip to Paris. :-) One of my favorite parts of town too.

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  9. Your blueberry muffins look so luscious!!! Lindsborg is such a pretty place - and is a town I have never heard of before. So much to see, so little time ...

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  10. The rolls look so tasty! Definitely worth a little bit of tweaking. Never been to Lindsborg, but looks like it's worth a little side jaunt from the grandparents'.

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  11. taxidermists' work is indeed fascinating! I have never been to Deyrolle but as I'll be in paris next july, i'll try to visit this place. the buns recipe looks really delicious. next time you'll make some, it is going to be perfect.

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  12. Sorry they didn't turn out to be as tasty as you'd hoped, but they look flipping delicious, so you're halfway there!

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