A soft, cake-like pie base topped with Finnish forest blueberries set in a light quark or cream custard. The taste of late summer, eaten with coffee.

Finnish forests yield small, dark, intense bilberries that locals pick by the bucket under everyman's-right access laws each summer. Baked into a soft pulla-style base with a quark or cream custard, mustikkapiirakka is the country's everyday summer pie, sold in every cafe and market hall from July onward and eaten with coffee.

Where to eat Mustikkapiirakka (blueberry pie) in Helsinki

3 editor picks for Mustikkapiirakka (blueberry pie) in Helsinki, ranked by editorial score. All Helsinki signature dishes · Mustikkapiirakka (blueberry pie) across every city.

  • Way Bakery

    Order Cardamom korvapuusti cinnamon bun

    Way Bakery on Agricolankatu in Kallio is an all-day bakery, wine bar and eatery known for rustic sourdough and sweet buns; at night it becomes Maukku.

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  • Cafe Regatta

    Drink Cinnamon bun and coffee by the sea

    Cafe Regatta is a tiny red lakeside cottage near Sibelius Park serving korvapuusti and coffee; in summer the tables spill onto the shoreline rocks.

    DetailsDirections

  • Konditoria Hopia

    Order Karelian pie (karjalanpiirakka)

    Konditoria Hopia in Töölö is an old-time patisserie baking Karelian pies and cinnamon buns to a recipe brought from Sortavala nearly 70 years ago.

    DetailsDirections

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Make it at home

Serves 855 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 100g soft butter
  • 150g sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 200ml milk
  • 250g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 400g blueberries (bilberries if you can get them)
  • For topping: 250g quark or sour cream, 1 egg, 3 tablespoons sugar

Method

  1. Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the egg, then add the milk.
  2. Fold in the flour, baking powder and cardamom to a soft batter and spread into a lined, shallow tin, pushing it up the sides.
  3. Scatter the blueberries over the base.
  4. Whisk the quark, egg and sugar and pour over the berries.
  5. Bake at 200C for about 30 minutes until set and lightly golden; cool before slicing.

Editor tip. Small wild bilberries colour the whole pie purple and taste far deeper than cultivated blueberries.

Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Milk.