Butter eye buns (Finnish voisilmäpulla)
These soft cardamom butter buns have a rich butter and vanilla sugar “eye” in the center of the bun, which gives these Finnish butter eye buns their name and makes them a divine treat for any fika moment to enjoy with coffee.
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Ingredients you need for butter eye buns
- Whole milk: I commonly use whole milk, but you can use the milk of your preference. I have tried this recipe at least with oat milk, almond milk, and plain water.
- Fresh yeast: Can be substituted with about 22 grams of dried yeast
- Caster sugar: Can be substituted with brown sugar both in the dough and in the filling
- Cardamom: I use ground cardamom, but you can definitely use whole cardamom pods and grind them yourself for a more aromatic flavour.
- Vanilla sugar, can be left out or substituted with 1tsp vanilla paste
- Egg, both for the dough and for the eggwash. You can as well brush the buns with milk if you prefer lighter-colored buns.
- Wheat flour: you can use all purpose flour too.
- Sea salt: It can be substituted with another salt.
- Soft butter: For the dough and for the filling. Use soft butter at room temperature, so you can easily fold it into the dough and spread it on the out-rolled dough for the filling. Can be substituted with margarine, but notice that margarine is harder in use and doesn’t soften like butter does, and does not mix in the dough as well.
- Pearl sugar: For sprinkling on the top. Pearl sugar is a granulated sugar that does not melt in the oven and is traditionally used in Nordic buns. If you cannot find it, you can substitute it with caster sugar or dust with icing sugar after baking to get that little sweetness on the top of the bun, but it will make a different appearance.
You can find the exact measurements on the recipe card.
Tools you may need
- Pot, to warm up the milk
- Large bowl, big enough dough to rise double in size
- Measuring spoons
- Scale
- Whisk
- Tea towel
- Oven pan and parchment paper
- Small brush, to brush the egg wash on the buns
How to make Finnish butter eye buns
Step one: Make the bun dough
Heat the milk in a pot to about 40°C (104°F).
TIP: If you are using a glass, ceramic, or metal bowl that is feeling a bit cold, heat the milk a bit warmer for the milk gives off its heat to warm up the bowl.
Crumble the yeast into milk and whisk lightly to get it to melt in.
Add cardamom, vanilla sugar, sugar, and egg into the milk mixture. Whisk to combine. Add about one-third of the flour and sea salt and combine.
Don’t be tempted to add the salt earlier to not kill the yeast function!
Ditch the whisk and continue with hand adding remaining flour a bit by bit. The dough should be rather too sticky than too dry. You might not need to use all the flour, or you may need to add some.
When the dough feels right (it doesn’t stick too much to the sides of the bowl and it has come together nicely), squeeze the room-temperature butter with your fingers – call me weird, but I love this part!
Fold and knead the butter in nicely until you have a soft dough, and cover with a clean tea towel and let the dough rest at room temperature until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
Step two: Make the filling
Mix wheat flour and vanilla sugar into room temperature butter. Combine well, roll in the parchment paper, and set in the fridge to cool down.
TIP: Wheat flour in the filling prevents the butter filling from overflowing down from the bun when it rises more in the oven.
Step three: Shape the butter buns
Make a long bar out of the dough and cut it evenly into about 30 buns. Roll them nice and round and set them on the parchment paper-lined oven tray. Leave some space for them to rise. Let them rise covered on the counter for 15 to 20 minutes or until almost doubled in size.
TIP: I use a cold oven to rise the buns, for there is no draught to disturb them.
Set the oven to 200°C (390°F).
When the buns have risen, push with your thumb on the bottom to create small holes. Take the filling from the fridge and divide it into about 30 pieces to divide it evenly into your buns.
Brush with egg wash and add a spoonful of pearl sugar on the top of each bun.
Bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.
How to eat and serve butter eye buns
When I was outlining this recipe post, I had a note under this header that said:
“Eat with coffee – of course!”
There is no doubt that voisilmäpulla is one of the softest buns to match with coffee.
I secretly like butter eye buns with a blueberry iced latte, though it is nowhere near any traditional combination to have flavoured coffee with a bun in here – but don’t tell anyone.
Storage
Voisilmäpulla, like any other soft and sweet bun, is at its best when eaten on the same day (would I dare to say within an hour after taking it out of the oven…?). It is still ok a few days, but do heat it up before eating – it tastes so much better then.
This recipe makes about 30 sweet butter eye buns, so if you are not planning to eat them on the same day, just pack them airtightly and freeze them. They are good up to 6 months, and when you want to eat them, stick them straight into a after heat of hot oven and let them melt until soft and warm. Watch not to overdo – dry bun tastes very bad, I warn you.
How to tweak this recipe
- Add almond flakes on the top or ground almonds.
- Grind some pistachios into the butter-sugar eye for a more crunchy and nutty flavor.
Share your sweet butter eye buns!
Comment below how your baking time went, or tag me on Instagram with @blue.tea.tile, I would love to know how your voisilmäpullat turned out!
You can find the recipe card below!
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Sweet butter eye buns (Voisilmäpullat)
These soft cardamom butter buns have a rich butter and vanilla sugar “eye” in the center of the bun and give these Finnish butter eye buns their name and make them a divine treat for any fika moment to enjoy with coffee.
Ingredients
Sweet bun dough
- 0.5 L whole milk
- 50 g fresh yeast
- 200g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp cardamom
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar (optional)
- 1 egg
- 200g soft butter (room temperature)
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- 790g wheat flour (or more if needed)
Filling
- 150g soft butter (room temperature)
- 80g caster sugar
- 4 tbsp wheat flour
- 4 tsp vanilla sugar
Topping
- Egg, for egg wash
- Pearl sugar
Instructions
- Step one: Make the bun dough
Heat the milk in a pot to about 40°C (104°F).
| TIP: If you are using a glass, ceramic, or metal bowl that is feeling a bit cold, heat the milk a bit warmer, for the milk gives off its heat to warm up the bowl.
Crumble the yeast into the milk and whisk lightly to get it to melt in.
Add cardamom, vanilla sugar, sugar, and egg into the milk mixture. Whisk to combine. Add about one-third of the flour and sea salt and combine.
Don’t be tempted to add the salt earlier, not to kill the yeast function!
Ditch the whisk and continue with hand adding remaining flour a bit by bit. The dough should be rather too sticky than too dry. You might not need to use all the flour or need to add some.
When the dough feels right (it doesn't stick too much to the sides of the bowl and it has come together nicely), squeeze the room-temperature butter with your fingers - call me weird, but I love this part!
Fold and knead the butter in nicely until you have a soft dough, and cover with a clean tea towel and let the dough rest at room temperature until doubled in size (about 1 hour). - Step two: Make the filling
Mix wheat flour and vanilla sugar into room temperature butter. Combine well and set in the fridge to cool down.
| TIP: Wheat flour in the filling prevents the butter filling from overflowing down from the bun when it rises more in the oven. - Step three: Shape the butter buns
Make a long bar out of the dough and cut it evenly into about 30 buns. Roll them nice and round and set them on the parchment paper-lined oven tray. Leave some space for them to rise. Let them rise covered on the counter for 15 to 20 minutes or until almost doubled in size.
| TIP: I use a cold oven to rise the buns, for there is no draught to disturb them.
Set the oven to 200°C (390°F).
When the buns have risen, push with your thumb on the bottom to create small holes. Take the filling from the fridge and divide it into about 30 pieces to divide it evenly into your buns.
Brush with egg wash and add a spoonful of pearl sugar on the top of each bun.
Bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.
Notes
Step-by-step photos in the post
Scroll up to see the process shots, to follow along.
Serving
When I was outlining this recipe post, I had a note under this header that said: "eat with coffee - of course!" There is no doubt that *voisilmäpulla* is one of the softest buns to match with coffee. I secretly like butter eye buns with a blueberry iced latte, though it is nowhere near any traditional combination to have flavoured coffee with a bun in here - but don't tell anyone.
Storage
Voisilmäpulla, like any other soft and sweet bun, is at its best when eaten on the same day (would I dare to say within an hour after taking it out of the oven...?). It is still ok a few days, but do heat it up before eating - it tastes so much better then.
This recipe makes about 30 sweet butter eye buns, so if you are not planning to eat them on the same day, just pack them airtightly and freeze them. They are good up to 6 months, and when you want to eat them, stick them straight into a after heat of hot oven and let them melt until soft and warm. Watch not to overdo - dry bun tastes very bad, I warn you.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 244Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 45mgSodium: 207mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 1gSugar: 11gProtein: 4g
These calculations are generated automatically by Nutritionix based on the ingredients shown in the recipe. The nutrition information is an estimation and may include errors. All nutritional information presented and written within this site (blueteatile.com) is intended for informational purposes only. The writer is not a certified nutritionist or registered dietitian and any nutritional information should be used as a general guideline only.
