Finnish Pancakes with Raspberry Sauce

Here’s another requested recipe from our social media followers. Both of these recipes are delicious and simple, but the best thing about both of them: these pancakes reheat great and so does this sauce! So you’ll have breakfast and ice cream toppings covered for days.

Raspberry Sauce with Fresh raspberries

Let’s start with making the raspberry sauce since it can be made ahead of time and can sit while you make the pancakes. This recipe will use fresh raspberries, but if all you have are frozen, I have put those directions on the recipe card below.

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From Helen

Our Raspberry Sauce recipe is one of the most popular recipes at The Farm. We serve it for breakfast, but it’s actually a traditional Finnish dessert. Finnish people generally don’t like sweet things in the morning. They ate this around Christmas time, and instead of raspberries, they used apples, raisins, and dates to make a sort of fruit soup that was served over the rice. Finnish Americans made the switch to raspberries because they were more readily available, and Grandma Toinie started serving it in the morning because she felt it was too heavy to be an American dessert. 

STEPS: EXPLAINED, WITH TIDBITS AND ADVICE

1. Add 1 ¼ cup water to medium sauce pan, ¼ cup raspberries, and 2 tablespoons raspberry Jell-O to the water and whisk together. Bring to boil over high heat.

2. Once boiling, turn the burner down to medium heat so the liquid maintains a slow boil. Then, whisk in ¼ cup sugar.  

3. Dissolve 2 tablespoons cornstarch in ¼ cup water. Then, slowly whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Once combined, bring your sauce back to boil until it’s thick and bubbly, about 2 minutes.

NOTE: I’ve never made this recipe by myself, and I forgot to mix my cornstarch with water and just dumped it in. It clumped aggressively. I was able to fix it with a combination of immersion blender and picking out the big chunks! The only issue was that the blender couldn’t quite “immerse” because there was’t enough sauce, so it splattered all over the wall. Haha! But it still tasted great!

5. Once it’s nice and thick, take your sauce off the heat and fold in the rest of the pint of raspberries. This recipe stores great in the refrigerator and is lovely on top of rice pudding or ice cream.

Finnish Pancakes

When my mom Helen gave me this pancake recipe years ago, she didn’t tell me about the blending steps. I just threw everything in the blender at once and then immediately started frying up the pancakes. They did not taste the same. Actually, they tasted pretty bad. So follow the blending steps and don’t forget to whisk the batter before EVERY pour onto the griddle. I also made that mistake. Don’t worry! I’ll remind you in the steps.

From Helen

This is a traditional Finnish recipe that makes very light, thin pancakes. Grandma Toinie taught me how to make these, and this recipe has been passed down through the family since we settled on The Farm in the 1900’s. The most important tip when making these pancakes is to have a very hot surface so they cook fast or they won’t turn out right. You want them to be a little crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Left over pancakes can be topped with jam and then rolled.

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STEPS: EXPLAINED, WITH TIDBITS AND ADVICE

1. In a blender or in a bowl with a whisk, combine eggs, sugar, butter, and salt until thoroughly mixed, about 30 seconds with the blender. Both Helen and I use a blender. Follow these blending steps exactly!

2. Blend in half of the milk for another 30 seconds.

3. Slowly add the flour, ¼ cup at a time while still blending or mixing until all flour is added.

4. Keep stirring or blending while slowly pouring in the rest of the milk. Your blender is going to be pretty full at this point.

5. Once everything is blended well, it’s important to let the batter rest for 2-5 minutes. I pour mine in a Pyrex 8-cup glass measuring cup to rest. The batter will need to be whisked every single time you pour pancakes onto the griddle, and it’s too hard to whisk it if it’s still in the blender. If you don’t have a measuring cup that will fit all the batter, you can use a smaller one. Just remember to mix up the batter when you add to your smaller cup because it separates when it sits, which will ruin your pancakes.

6. If you use a skillet, choose a small to medium size. You need to keep it really hot. Use a cooking spray at least for the first batch to season the pan. The butter in the batter should be good enough for the rest. If you use a griddle, heat it to 400 degrees. I use a griddle.  

To test if your surface is ready, throw a little water on it. When it hisses, steams, and bubbles like this, it’s ready.

8. Whisk your batter, and then pour your pancakes onto the cooking surface. Make the pancakes about 2-3 inches in diameter or the size of a tuna can. 

9. Once you pour out the pancakes, let them cook for about 1 minute on each side or until you see little bubbles start to form on the pancake. 

Then flip and cook for another minute or two. They should be a golden brown but not too dark. The bottom middle one maybe needed a little longer.

They start to bubble a bit like this when they are close to done on the second side.

When you think they are done, flip them a third time to check. They should look like this. If they do, take them off the heat right away.

It takes practice to judge the cooking time, and it can shift on you. My trick is to taste one right off the griddle to see how I’m doing. They will be VERY hot so be careful. My husband says I have an asbestos mouth, so I can get away with this.

They should taste kind of crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside. After sitting on the plate, they lose the crunch which is another reason to eat them right off the grill. But don’t do that in Helen’s kitchen. You’ll get in trouble…if you get caught that is 😉

Serve immediately with maple syrup, jam and butter, or Raspberry Sauce!