Recipe: Mini Finnish "Mustikkapiirakka" (Blueberry Pies)

Mini Finnish "Mustikkapiirakka" (Blueberry Pies)

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• drizzle :

  to trickle a thin stream of a liquid ingredient, like icing or sauce, over food.

• whisk :

  to beat or stir ingredients vigorously with a fork or whisk to mix, blend, or incorporate air.

• zest :

  to scrape off the outer colored part of a citrus fruit's rind (skin or peel) using a metal tool with small sharp blades, such as a zester, microplane, or the small holes of a grater (avoid the "pith," the white, spongy lining of the rind that can be bitter).

What is Mustikkapiirakka?

"Mustikkapiirakka" (moo-stee-kah-PEER-akka) is a Finnish word that translates to "blueberry pie" in English. “Mustikka” means "blueberry" or "bilberry," and “piirakka” is "pie." This dessert is found in many restaurants in Finland but is usually homemade by local Finns due to the abundance of wild bilberries. Families may have their own variation of mustikkapiirakka. 

Bilberries are native to Europe and closely related to North American blueberries. Some key differences are that bilberries grow individually or in pairs, whereas blueberries grow in clusters. They are smaller and darker blue inside and out than blueberries. Also, bilberries are softer and juicier, with a more intense flavor. 

Let's Learn About Finland!

• Welcome to Finland, home of the world's first sauna—a wooden room that fills with steam that people use to cleanse and relax! 
• Officially the Republic of Finland, this Nordic country is in Northern Europe and borders Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Helsinki is its capital and largest city.
• Finland's total area is 130,678 square miles. It is very sparsely populated, with about 17 people per square kilometer and 5.5 million people. Consider that in the Denver metropolitan area alone, there are 2.8 million people!
• The official languages are Finnish and Swedish. Finnish is the country's predominant language, but some residents speak Swedish in a few western and southern coastal areas. Swedish is the official language in the Finnish region of Åland or the Åland Islands, off the southwest coast. In the northernmost and largest region, Lapland, the indigenous Sámi people of Northern Europe speak one of the Sámi languages.
• Early inhabitants of Finland arrived in about 9000 BCE. Before Finland became independent in 1918, it had been under either Swedish or Russian rule. Its government is a unitary parliamentary republic with a president, prime minister, and parliament. Finland is part of the European Union and uses the Euro as its currency.
• The Ice Age affected much of Finland's geography, with eroding glaciers flattening much of the land, and there are few hills and mountains. However, not much of the land is cultivated, as forests cover 78 percent. Not surprisingly, Finland produces most of the wood in Europe. 
• For the last few years, the United Nations World Happiness Report has stated that Finland is the Happiest Country in the World. The report considers a country's residents' sense of well-being and personal and societal balance and harmony, such as work-life balance, relationships, politics, diet, nature, etc. 
• Although Finns (or Finnish people) pay high taxes, their public services are exceptional. Public education is one benefit: children under seven can attend preschool or child care for free (primary school begins at age seven), and college and university are also free-of-charge. In addition, the national public health care system is publically funded and offers universal health care to residents.
• Vappu, or May Day, is celebrated annually on May 1 and marks the end of winter. It is one of the year's biggest festivals in Finland. It is a feast of springtime mainly celebrated in cities and big towns. The festival begins the evening before May Day, and streets, pubs, and restaurants fill with people ready to say "Hyvästi!" (Goodbye!) to winter and "Tervetuloa!" (Welcome!) to a long-awaited spring.  
• After a heavy May Day Eve celebration, people gather for a celebratory lunch on May 1, also known as "Herring Lunch," a tradition that started to satisfy partiers and their craving for salty snacks the day after a night of heavy drinking! Pickled herring parfait, Finnish fritters filled with sweet jam, gravlax, and Schnapps are traditional foods and drinks served for May Day Lunch.
• Fish, meat (including reindeer!), whole grains, berries, and milk (or buttermilk) are common in Finnish cooking. Karelian stew is considered a national dish by some people and rye bread by others. The traditional stew is from the region of Karelia and is made of meat, peppercorns, salt, vegetables, and other seasonings. 

What's It Like to Be a Kid in Finland?

• Children in Finland start primary school when they are seven years old, but most kids go to preschool and kindergarten from ages three to six. Finland has some of the best public primary education in the world.
• For fun, kids might go sailing, hiking, swimming, or canoeing in Summer with their families. In winter, families go ice skating, skiing, snowmobiling, ice fishing, and dog sledding. 
• A year-round amusement park called Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi is located at the Arctic Circle in the Lapland region, where kids can visit Santa Claus, go on sleigh rides pulled by reindeer, learn about snowmobiles, and view the Aurora Borealis (or Northern Lights). They can also walk past a line that tells them they have crossed into the Arctic Circle. 
• Another popular attraction is the Suomenlinna sea fortress near Helsinki, where kids can run and climb as they explore the fortress, check out the old canons, visit museums, and picnic with families.
• Breakfast for kids might be a savory open-faced sandwich with cold cuts and cheeses, cereal with yogurt, or oatmeal with berries. Then, they either bring their lunch to school or have a school lunch. 
• Sweets that Finnish kids may eat include "salmiak" (or salty liquorice) candy and "pulla," a cardamom-spiced sweet roll similar to a cinnamon roll.