Delicious Finnish Blueberry Pie (Mustikkapiirakka)

Delicious blueberry pie is a quite popular Finnish dessert and a common way to use the seasonal bounty of blueberries. Though this mustikkapiirakka (blueberry pie) is a true summer cottage recipe during the blueberry season, it is a simple dessert to make off-season as well, using frozen blueberries you find from grocery stores or those you have stored from harvest time in the freezer.

Blueberries are a blue treasure and a delight in the late summertime, also in Northern Europe, in Nordic Countries. Blueberries are a great source of many essential nutrients and contain a lot of vitamin C! In Finland, we have the every man’s right to forage for blueberries in the forest to use them, for example, in a yummy blueberry pie, the iconic Finnish dessert, Finnish blueberry milk, or even make some whipped porridge with blueberries (traditionally with lingonberries).

More Finnish recipes

Try out some other Finnish and Nordic classics!

• Simple soft apple pie is the one for beginners!
• Runeberg torte, the tall distinctive almond cake with raspberry jam.
• Refreshing homemade rhubarb juice for any occasion.
• The ultimate Finnish comfort food, the sweet rice porridge (riisipuuro)
• Yummy Whipped lingonberry semolina porridge (vispipuuro) for breakfast or snack time.

Ingredients you need for Finnish blueberry pie

You can find the exact measurements on the recipe card.

Pie crust ingredients

• Caster sugar
• Margarine: Can be substituted with butter.
• Egg
• Wheat flour: can be substituted with all-purpose flour.
• Baking powder
• Milk: I have used cow milk, but you can use plant-based milk or water. It is not the key ingredient, so it is ok to swap.

Ingredients for the crumble

• Wheat flour: Can be substituted with all-purpose flour.
• Margarine: Can be substituted with butter.
• Caster sugar
• Vanilla sugar: Can be substituted with real vanilla bean or vanilla extract.

Blueberry filling ingredients

• Blueberries: Foraged wild blueberries or shop bought ones.
• Potato starch: Can be substituted with corn starch or even icing sugar (it’s just a bit sweeter!) If you use fresh blueberries instead of frozen ones, you can skip it completely.

You can find the exact measurements on the recipe card.

Tools you may need

• Large bowl, for mixing the pie crust, and for mixing the crumble on the top
• Medium bowl, for mixing the blueberry filling
• Electric mixer (hand mixer or a stand mixer, both will do fine)
• Spoons for mixing
• Measuring cups and a scale
• Pie plate or a tart pan of ⌀ 24cm (10-inch pie pan), the traditional Finnish blueberry pie is often made and served in a round glass pie pan.

How to make Finnish Blueberry pie from frozen blueberries (or fresh)

Step one: Make the dough

Set the oven at 200°C (392°F).

Whisk with a hand mixer (or a stand mixer) together the sugar and the margarine in a large mixing bowl until the mixture is pale yellow and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well.

Add the dry ingredients and the milk gradually and mix until combined.

Step two: Build the pie layers

Butter the pie pan (24 cm diameter or 10 inches). Press the pie dough into the bottom of the pan with the help of a wet spoon to form the pie crust. Make sure you press the dough nicely up the sides of the pan without leaving too much dough in the corners.

Using the same bow, mix all crumble ingredients: wheat flour, caster sugar, margarine (or butter) and vanilla sugar. Leave it crumbly. Set the bowl aside and take a separate bowl to mix the blueberry filling.

To prevent your pie from becoming soggy, combine blueberries with potato starch. If you use fresh blueberries, you can skip this step.

Sprinkle blueberries evenly over the pie crust in the pie pan. Sprinkle the crumble on top, and press it evenly. If you leave the pie heaped, the tips burn when the rest is uncooked. 

Step three: Bake the Finnish blueberry pie

Put the blueberry pie in the lower half of the oven for 200°C and bake for 25-30min. When using fresh berries, shorten the time a bit.

If you want to leave the top crumble soft, cookie-dough like, bake until the edges turn golden brow. When you prefer more crumbly texture, bake on the higher oven shelf until the crumble turns golden brown. If it feels that the top starts to brown too fast, cover with aluminum foil and continue baking.

Serving

Serve the Finnish blueberry pie traditionally with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or vanilla custard. If you have some extra blueberries to spare, sprinkle them on top of the dish!

Storage

Finnish blueberry pie stores in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 6 months.

How to tweak this recipe

• Add some grated lemon zest with the filling.
• Season the crust with a hint of cardamom.
• Serve with some whipped cream and fresh blueberries.
• Mix together Greek yoghurt, with vanilla sugar and sweeten with icing sugar to the taste, to serve with the blueberry pie.

How is your family recipe?

How is your family’s perfect blueberry pie recipe? Soft dough or crumbly crust? Served with ice cream, custard, or plain? Tell me in the comments! And as always, if you have made this or my other recipes, tag me on Instagram with @blue.tea.tile or let me know in the comments. I would love to know how they turned out!

More Blueberry Recipes

• Blueberry Hibiscus Iced Tea
• Blueberry Simple Syrup for Coffee, Cocktails & Iced Teas
• Iced Blueberry Latte

You can find the recipe card below!

Other Finnish and Nordic recipes

• 

  Get Cozy with Winter Baking | Finnish Winter and Christmas Time Treats

• 

  Nordic Lingonberry Pie with Cardamom

• 

  Kanelsnegle buns (Danish Cinnamon swirls)

• 

  Butter eye buns (Finnish voisilmäpulla)

• 

  Basic Finnish pulla dough – Soft sweet buns with cardamom

• 

  Homemade golden dandelion honey: Easy wildflower “honey”