Matcha Green Tea Laskiaispulla

Finnish Laskiaispulla combine with the Japanese matcha green tea flavor for an irresistible treat! 

matcha laskiaispulla

Laskiaispulla is a traditional sweet bun associated with Shrove Tuesday, the day before the start of lent. This type of bun is eaten during this period in many Northern European countries. I first tried one last month when they started selling them in various bakeries and grocery stores. The cute cardamon flavored buns sandwiching an irresistible whip cream were so addictive that I quickly became a fan. There are two types commonly sold here: the more traditional almond paste/whip cream buns and a jam/whip cream option. 

🍃These are sadly a seasonal bun… which is why I learned to make them! 

When I was looking at various recipes I realized that these buns have so much potential in flavor variation! Traditional versions are delicious but it’s possible customize the cream, filling, and bun flavor. Since I had plenty of matcha green tea powder, I decided to make them with a Japanese twist! If you want to make these buns the traditional way, just omit the green tea powder completely and you’ve got normal laskiaispulla. 

🍃Here is the laskiaisupulla bun recipe that I consulted: 

https://mydearkitcheninhelsinki.com/2014/03/04/laskiaispulla-the-cutest-buns-in-finnish-cuisine/

My dear kitchen in Helsinki has some amazing Finnish recipes all in English! I highly recommend this blog for anyone interested in Finnish cooking. I halved this recipe because I couldn’t possibly eat/give away 20 buns. Eat these buns freshly made for the best taste! I also simplified the process by adding the yeast to the milk directly. I prefer bigger buns so I created 8 buns from the recipe instead of 10. 

🍃For the matcha whip cream: 

https://www.nakazawa.co.jp/chiebukuro/?mode=chiebukuro03

I doubled this recipe to make the matcha whip cream. I also adjusted the initial amount of cream to melt the matcha and sugar together. With this method, the matcha flavor became more prominent and avoided clumps in the powder.

Matcha Green Tea Laskiaispulla

The traditional Finnish Laskiaispulla with a matcha green tea twist! Cardamon flavors in the pulla seem to go perfectly with the Japanese green tea flavor
Course Dessert
Cuisine Finnish, Japanese
Keyword sweets
Servings 8 buns

Ingredients

🍵Dough

  • 1 egg
  • 50 grams butter
  • 1 50 ml size cup granulated white sugar (I weighed it and was about 42 grams)
  • 1 ml size cup salt (about 1/4 teaspoon )
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamon
  • 1 teaspoon matcha green tea powder
  • 125 ml milk
  • 6 grams dry yeast
  • 210 grams all purpose flour

🍵matcha green tea whip cream

  • 200 ml heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon matcha green tea powder

🍵Fillings/toppings aside from whip cream (optional ingredients)

  • Jam of choice (I used strawberry jam!)
  • powdered sugar (to sift on top of the buns )
  • extra matcha green tea powder (to sift on top of the buns)

Instructions

🍵Starting the dough!

  • Crack an egg and mix with a fork. Divide the mixed egg so that 1/4 of the egg is in one bowl and the other 3/4th is in another bowl. In my case the egg was around 50g so I put 13g in one bowl and 47g in another bowl. Save this for later! 
  • Melt the butter in a pan until liquid. Let it sit in the pan to cool and save for later. 
  • In a medium size bowl put the sugar, cardamon, salt, and green tea powder and set aside. 
  • Heat the milk until almost boiling and take it off of the heat. Put the milk in a large mixing bowl.  
  • Add the sugar mixture(sugar, cardamon, salt, and green tea powder) to the heated milk. Mix thoroughly so that the the ingredients combine in the warm milk.
  • Check the temperature of the milk mixture with your hand. It should feel warm but not painful to keep your hand in. Add the dry yeast to the milk mixture. Note: make sure the milk is warm not hot so that it doesn't burn and kill the yeast! 
  • Add the quarter of egg (13g) to the milk mixture. 
  • Slowly start adding the flour. I would first add 1/2 and mix together. Then, add the rest slowly. Continue to check the consistency of the dough. It should be a soft dough but not dry. Note: at this point only mix, don't knead the dough! 
  • Add the cooled melted butter to the dough and knead the dough. It should take about 5 minutes of kneading until the butter has incorporated into the dough. 
  • Shape the dough into a bowl and put it in a large bowl. The dough should be elastic but soft!
  • Cover with a damp cloth or paper towel. Leave someplace warm and let it rise until it doubles in size. It takes about 30 minutes to an hour.  Note: I usually fill a pot with warm water and put the bowl into the pot so that it rises quicker. 

🍵Make the cream while waiting for the dough to rise!

  • In a bowl add sugar and matcha powder, mix well with a whisk. 
  • Boil water in a pot large enough to fit the bottom of the bowl. Put the bowl on top of the boiling water so it's just touching. Add only 15 g of the cream and mix well. Note: save the rest of the cream for later
  • When the mixture has melted thoroughly take off the heat. Place the bowl on  top of a pot filled with ice water to keep the bottom cold. 
  • Now add the the rest of the cream. 
  • Whisk whisk whisk, until it forms a relatively hard cream that holds its shape. Note: it's probably easier with an electric mixer!
  • Put the finished cream into a plastic ziplock bag to use for later, and keep in the refrigerator. 

🍵Back to the dough!

  • At this point the dough should have doubled in size. Push the air out of the dough and place onto a flat floured surface. 
  • Knead the dough for a few minutes to get rid of the air bubbles. Make a cylindrical shape out of the dough. 
  • Split the dough into 8 equal parts and form them into balls. 
  • Place the dough balls onto a greased baking pan. Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rise for another 30 minutes 
  • Preheat the oven to 220 Celsius while waiting for the dough balls to rise. 
  • After the dough balls have risen for the second time, take the remaining mixed egg that was saved and thoroughly brush the tops of each dough ball. 
  • Place the baking pan with the dough balls into the oven. Bake on the middle rack for about 10 minutes. Note: it could take more or less time depending on the oven. Make sure to check at around 8 minutes. It should be brown but not burnt. 
  • Once the rolls are baked, take out of the oven and let it sit until it cools completely. 

🍵Assembly!

  • Cut each roll in half. 
  • Spread some jam on each one. 
  • Take out the matcha whip cream from the fridge and cut the corner of the plastic bag to make a makeshift piping bag. Pipe the cream in a circular shape on top of the jam. Note: if you have a real piping bag you could use that instead! 
  • Pipe the cream in a circular shape on top of the jam. 
  • Cover the top of the cream with the other half of the bun! Continue until all the buns have been filled!
  • Optional but looks nice: Sift some powdered sugar on top of each bun and sift some of the matcha powder on top as well! 

Hope you enjoyed this recipe for matcha laskiaispulla! Now it’s possible to eat these “seasonal” buns any day of the year. I can’t wait to experiment some more with different flavors!

For another matcha green tea recipe check out my Matcha Green Tea Rice Krispie Treats!

About the matcha Ingredient:

note: contains affiliate link

Matcha is a powdered form of green tea used in Japanese tea ceremonies. I guess it’s like the “espresso” of green tea, much more concentrated than a normal green tea. These days matcha is added to so many things from matcha lattes, milkshakes, ice creams, etc… it can be a delicious flavoring for so many things. You can probably find it in Asian grocery stores and possibly health and organic stores. 

 



2 thoughts on “Matcha Green Tea Laskiaispulla”

  • Great idea to add Matcha powder to pulla. Will definitely try. I think, the traditional laskiaispulla almond paste (instead of strawberry jam) will be also perfect match with Matcha. Welcome to Finland.

    • Thank you!:) I was originally going to try the almond paste but got confused at the grocery store when I was looking for it! I was also thinking the traditional Japanese red bean paste would go perfectly!

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