You know that popular question “What would you eat as your last meal?“. I know my answer in a heartbeat – definitely Finnish pancakes with berry jam and whipped cream.
These big, thin pancakes combine crispness and soft texture with the flavor of open-fire cooking. They are addictive. Crepes are the only food I never order abroad; the taste is so indifferent in comparison. Sorry French crepes, but you are not the same!
Finnish pancakes are ridiculously easy to make. Ok, let’s be honest here, all my recipes are ridiculously easy to do because I hate failing – even in the kitchen environment.
The most difficult part is that you have to find an open fire and a big flat frying pan. If you are visiting Finland and only enjoying city life, this may be a bit of a problem. Luckily, especially during summertime, you can just order crepes at the market square cafés of any Finnish town.
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Recipe for 10 Finnish Pancakes
I always make this amount double because ten pancakes aren’t enough in this household.
- 2 eggs
- 5 dl (2 US cups) milk
- 1,5 dl (1/2 cup) regular baking flour
- 0,5 dl (1/4 cup) barley flour
- 0,5 dl (1/4 cup) runny butter or oil
- Half a teaspoon of salt
Mix everything with a whisk until smooth. Leave the ready batter to sit at least 30 minutes before frying the crepes; this makes all the difference! The batter doesn’t go bad, some busy mums do the mixture in the morning and leave it in the fridge for the whole day.
Heat the pan over the open fire. Melt a teaspoon of butter on the hot pan and pour some batter after the butter has melted. Wait a while until the bottom of the crepe is golden brown and flip to get the same brownness for the top side.
As you can see, even native Finns sometimes mess up with the flipping. It doesn’t matter; the taste is equally good. Serve the crepe with strawberry or raspberry jam and whipped cream. Sometimes we replace whipped cream with whipped vanilla sauce or vanilla ice cream.
By the way, Finns love crepes so much that there are at least five synonyms for them in Finnish: lettu, lätty, plätty, ohukainen and räiskäle.
Have you tried Finnish pancakes? Or are you going to make them soon? Let me know in the comments!
Looking for more Finnish recipes? Check out some of my other Finnish food posts:
Warm wishes from Finland,
Varpu
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Hello there!
I’m Varpu. One blonde,
travel-loving,
Finnish engineer driving this site.
My mom Anya-Riitta has a rule that the first lettu always gets thrown out , and my rule is that I get the crispiest thinnest lettu , the crispy edges are the BEST!!!
Hahahh, yes, Kay! In our household kids always say the first lettu is for adults. 😀 I also love the crispy edges!
I have just about the same recipe. It was my Finnish grandma’s. It has been, and always will be, my favorite breakfast, but it’s just as good for dinner for me and my husband. Whenever my kids come home, or any guests to be sure, this is what I serve and what they ask for. I have the same problem with flipping the crepe some times, but then I eat that one while I am cooking the others!
Yes! The broken pancakes are always for parents! This is true in all Finnish households <3
Hei Varpu, Our old family recipe is real similar, although we always called them “Swedish pancakes” – it might have been brought over by my Finnish-speaking Swede step-grandfather, hence the Swedish label. We add an extra egg, use a whole cup of flour, and add a tablespoon of sugar too, so a bit of difference there. I’ve always used a large teflon-coated electric griddle, poured a long single pancake the whole length of the griddle, then cut it up into 3 -4 pieces after it set up, then flipped them with a long plastic spatula, so they are more rectangular in shape. After my dad got the recipe his mom, it was a regular Saturday morning staple growing up. In college, I was always sought after by my friends to host pancake meals after they discovered my secret recipe. It’s still a family favorite for us to this day. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe and bringing back great memories for me too.
Hei Rich! Wow, what a lovely story, thank you so much for sharing it. I can believe you were the brunch buddy NRO 1 in college! Your family recipe sounds super delicious, I’ll have to try it next time I make pancakes!
Newly hatched Finn here, just married…..but have been loving finish food for 50 years, you have a marvelous column here!
Hi Anna! Congratulations!! Thank you so much, I’m so happy you liked my post! <3
I love Finnish crepes but not so much with jam… my favourite topping is fresh lemon juice with a sprinkling of sugar 🙂
Hi! What an interesting combo, I have never tried that! I promise to test it too the next time I make crepes. 🙂
You definitely should! Even my Finnish husband who is a traditionalist with jam and (ice)cream admitted that it’s really good 😀
Hi! I tried this yesterday as we were making crepes at the summer cottage. To be precise: there was a team of four Finns (adults) as food testing is serious business. 😉 The result: surprising and really good! Thank you for this tip! 🙂
I’m so glad you tried it and enjoyed it! Something different to the traditional toppings but so refreshing and yummy 🙂