Finnish Pannukakku Recipe
Lately, my husband and I have been doing our weekly date on Thursday mornings. Somewhat unconventional I realize, but it saves us the babysitter trouble, our three-year-old is in preschool and neither of us has to teach at that time. It has actually been wonderful and we can’t wait for Thursday to come around each week.
This past Thursday we decided to go to breakfast at a local place called Suomi Cafe. The picture says Suomi Restaurant, but I have never heard anybody refer to it as anything but a cafe. Go figure.
Anyway, in case you’re wondering, Suomi means Finland. I live in Houghton, Michigan, and this town/area is basically little Finland. When my fourth grader did her Heritage Day at school the teacher mentioned that it was a stretch to find any other ancestry but Finnish for about half the class. I’ve begun to really learn what makes a Finnish surname, as well as plenty of first names. And now I have tried some Finnish food (besides the pulla my two good college friends always made at Christmas time) (they served their LDS missions in Finland) and have lots of plans to try more.
We ordered the normal eggs and sausage but we added Finnish French Toast (funny name, eh?) and Pannukakku. Which, if you haven’t already figured it out, is a type of pancake.
It is a pancake unlike anything you have ever had. Absolutely to die for! We were in heaven.
So much so, that for Friday night (just a day later), my husband found himself a recipe and made us breakfast for dinner. Eggs, sausage and Pannukakku. I’d have taken a picture of the custardy, mouth-watering goodness, but we ate it much too quickly to think of getting the camera out.
But here is the recipe (courtesy Allrecipes.com). I know the ingredients make it look pretty ordinary, but it isn’t. It is decadent. Really.
We ate it with raspberry or blackberry jam (locally made) on top. But you can use syrup or whatever you like.
Enjoy!
Updated 6/2015: Now that we have been gluten-free for several years, we still use this recipe and just substitute rice flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour for the all-purpose flour and it works out wonderfully! It has become our traditional Christmas morning breakfast!
Finnish Pannukakku Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 2 cups milk
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Melt the butter in a 9×13 inch pan.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Add the beaten eggs and milk; mix well. Tilt the baking pan to coat all of the sides with butter, then pour the excess butter into the batter, and mix until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Serve hot.
I love trying new recipes, and I actually have all these ingredients!
It kind of seems a little like what we call "german pancakes," but even better. I'm going to have to try this. (Although I only have three eggs right now, bummer, we can't have it tomorrow morning.)
Ooh! I can't wait to try that one out! Yummeroo! And how nice of Joel to make dinner/breakfast. =]
My nephew makes a deep dish baked pancake that sounds similar to this one. He calls it "Pop over pancakes" and we love it!
What a treat, I can't wait to try this recipe!
That sounds like a fun recipe to try. Thanks for sharing!
Oh- and I like your unconvential dates. We were able to get a Thursday morning breakfast date in ourselves this week and it was awesome to not deal with crowds or babysitters.
pannukakku is our standard Christmas morning breakfast. When I lived in Finland we'd often have it throughout the day – it's great later in the day, cold, and again with jam on it.
mmmmmm
I should make some this week!
Love the idea of a morning date! What a great way to avoid the babysitter hassle!
I was thinking that sounded an awful lot like german pancakes too. We love those!
YUM! And I love your Thursday morning dates. When Dustin first started working from home, he wasn't as busy as he is now and the kids were all in a co-op Monday afternoons, so our date was always lunch on Monday. I miss those days. I like day so much better than night when I'm exhausted anyway.
That is what is known in our family as a German Pancake. It's also great with real maple syrup! 🙂
My side that imigrated there came from lapland. The top of Norway and Finland were they would cross boundaries all the time for the fish, and herds of Reindeer. I love seeing the place that they landed in America through your blog. It is SOOOO much fun. It makes me want to come there. Are you sure it was a mixed jam or did they actually have lingonberry jam available? I would think that they would import it. My mouth is watering.
My husband and I just finished talking this morning about supplementing our Fri date with a Tuesday morning date. Yay!
I love the quaint photo. I think where you live looks beautiful!
I love your date arrangement … very smart! And the Pannu Kakku sounds delish (and easy – yay).
You have me convinced. Sounds like I have dinner plans for family night 🙂
oh Sounds tasty! I'll give it a try!!
So great that you get that special time each week! Good for you! Sounds delicous!!
Mmmm…. The recipe looks nummy!!!
Blackberry jam, too? You do realize you're killing me, right? If you'd had lingonberry jam, I'd have to take a flight to Michigan right now.
Pannu Kakku . . . mmmmmm . . .
Wow, this is almost exactly the Tailor's pancake recipe! It's the beaten eggs that make all the difference—he whips the heck out of the egg whites and then folds them in at the very end. Lighter than air, and super-fluffy! Yum.
Between living in Minnesota (another big Finnish enclave) and having a Finnish friend out here, I've learned so much about Finnish culture and aesthetics. So many wonderful things to love (and man, can those people do amazing things with knitting!).
That is what I call "German Pancakes" and we love them at our house. We sprinkle with a little powdered sugar or use syrup. They are yummy and have been a favorite of mine for many years.
Thank you–this looks SO good–have you ever tried aebleskiver? (Danish pancakes….pancake puffs.) I'm jealous that you get a weekly date!
That's genius that you figured out a time that works for you on the date thing. Mornings are just as ideal as evenings if you ask me! We need to do better on the date thing. I miss it. Alot.
Thanks for passing along the recipe too. Sounds yummy!