Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Mustikkapiirakka
A rustic blueberry pie on a soft cardamom base with a tangy quark topping, made from Finland's wild forest berries.
Finnish · easy · serves 8
prep 20 min · cook 30 min
~413 cal · 6g protein · 44g carbs · 24g fat · 1g fiber · 20g sugars · 15g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Mustikkapiirakka, blueberry pie, celebrates the wild bilberries that carpet Finland's forests each summer, free for anyone to pick under the country's right-to-roam. In berry season, Finnish kitchens fill with the smell of these pies baking.
Unlike a double-crust American pie, the Finnish version is more like a soft, -scented cake or bun base spread with berries and often a tangy layer of quark or sour cream. The bilberries stain everything a deep purple and bake down to a jammy, faintly tart filling, the taste of a Nordic summer.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup quark or sour cream
3 cups blueberries or bilberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground
1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1
Cream the butter with a third of the sugar, beat in one egg, then work in the flour, baking powder, and cardamom to a soft dough.
2
Press the dough into a tin, pushing it up the sides a little.
3
Whisk the quark (or sour cream) with the remaining egg, half the remaining sugar, and the vanilla into a smooth, pourable custard, and spread it over the base.
4
Scatter the blueberries and the last of the sugar over the custard.
✎ Chef’s note
Use the berries generously and do not stir them in. They should sit in a thick layer that bakes down jammy into the creamy custard.
5
Bake at 375F (190C) until the base is golden, the custard is just set, and the berries burst, about 30 minutes.
Finnish berry-season tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
North Karelia. North Karelia is the Finnish remainder of Karelia, the region that gave the country the karjalanpiirakka, a thin rye crust folded around rice or barley porridge and spread with egg butter; it spread nationwide with the Karelians displaced in the Second World War and now carries EU protected-name status. Its wider kitchen leans on rye, lake fish, forest mushrooms and berries, and slow oven-baked stews from the long dark winter.
🗺️
Finland. Finnish food is clean and forest-driven, rye bread, lake fish, game, wild berries, and mushrooms. Karelian pies, creamy salmon soup, and a deep culture of foraging and preserving define the Nordic table.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Finland
Karjalanpiirakka (Karelian Pies)Little rye-crusted boats filled with creamy rice porridge, brushed with butter and topped with egg butter.
Hernekeitto (Finnish Pea Soup)A thick, slow-simmered soup of dried peas and smoked pork seasoned with marjoram, Finland's traditional Thursday soup, served with mustard.
Pannukakku (Finnish Oven Pancake)A single thick, custardy pancake baked in a hot buttered pan until puffed and golden, cut in squares and eaten with jam and berries.
Browse all Finland recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Mould or tin, Whisk.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it a Finland meal
Karjalanpaisti (Karelian Hot Pot)Dinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Mustikkapiirakka?
A rustic blueberry pie on a soft cardamom base with a tangy quark topping, made from Finland's wild forest berries.
Where does Mustikkapiirakka come from?
Mustikkapiirakka is a Finnish dish from North Karelia, Finland.
Can Mustikkapiirakka be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Mustikkapiirakka recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Mustikkapiirakka safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Mustikkapiirakka take to make?
About 50 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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