Pannukakku

Christmas break is almost over...it's pouring rain here and the temperature reads 50 F on my kitchen window thermometer.  It's time to call uppon Heikki Lunta, the Finnish snow god.   Back in the 70s, a radio station in Hancock WMPL (pronounced "wimple") employee named Dave Riutta penned the ditty  "Heikki Lunta's Snow Dance Song" (For those not familiar with Finnish, the name is pronounced HAY-key LOON-ta.) to inspire snow to  fall to support a local snowmobile race.  The song worked - TOO WELL! (for more wonderful history about this song, check out this great U.P. musc blog Rock and Roll Graffiti)  There was a huge snow storm that day.   Pouring rain on New Year's Day just isn't right.  We need Heikki Lunta here in Ann Arbor.

To inspire Heikki to come visit, I tried my hand at making Finnish pancakes, or Pannukakku, for breakfast this morning.   Pannukakku is like a German Dutch Baby style pancake - it gets puffy in the oven.   It's traditionally served sprinkled with powdered sugar and warm thimbleberry jam.   Thimbleberries are a northern Michigan wild fruit that taste like raspberries, so if you don't have the good fortune of having some of your own thimbleberry jam on hand, order some from the monks that live at the tip of the Keweenaw at Jampot or substitute some raspberry jam heated up to make it syrupy.

Here's how I made them this morning....they are surprisingly easy to make.  They'd be great to make on a school morning.  I'm thinking of making them when I cook for SELMA later this month.

Pannukakku - serves 8 people or 4 super hungry people

1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c whole milk
6 eggs
1 T. sugar
1 t. salt
butter

Preheat oven to 400 F, and place a 13X9 pan in it while it is heating. In a blender, mix all ingredients except the butter until it is well blended.   Put a couple tablespoons of butter into the hot pan, and brush the pan with the melted butter.   Add blender mixture, and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until pancake is puffy and golden.  It will deflate when it's taken out of the oven.   Serve sprinkled with powdered sugar (looks like snow, Heikki!) and warm jam or maple syrup.