Puffy baked pancakes are popular in many cultures. The batter is almost like any pancake batter but poured all at once into a hot pan and baked instead of making into individual pancakes in a skillet. The secret is to make sure the pan is very hot before pouring in the batter; that’s how the wonderful crispy edges are formed.
Oven pancakes are easy to make and can be topped with a variety of breakfast items. Finns like it topped with lingonberries and powdered sugar.
My husband Bill likes his kropsu with breakfast sausage and maple syrup.
It can also be topped with sautéed cinnamon apples, pears, strawberries, or other berries, or whatever you like on skillet pancakes. Here is the family recipe I was given years ago from a Finnish relative in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It’s a keeper!
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- Toppings as desired: lingonberries, sausage, strawberries, other fruit, etc.
- Powdered sugar, optional
- Place a heavy 9-by-13-inch pan in oven and turn oven to 400 degrees. The pan needs to get very hot.
- Add the stick of butter to the pan and let it melt in the oven.
- While the butter is melting, break eggs into a bowl and add sugar and salt; whisk until blended.
- Add milk alternately with the flour and stir.
- Using heavy oven mitts, remove pan from oven and carefully pour melted butter into the flour mixture and stir, then pour the mixed batter into the hot pan and return pan to oven.
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until the pancake puffs up and is nicely browned.
- To serve, cut pancake into squares or just scoop up. Top with your favorite toppings and serve immediately.
Hauskaa Joulua to you and your family, too! (That is Merry Christmas in Finnish for those who don’t know!) Our family loves this traditional Finnish pancake, also, and would highly recommend others to try it. It is easy and yummy! Jumala Siunatkoon Sinua with a Onnellista Uutta Vuotta! (God Bless You with a Happy New Year!)
Kim, your Finnish is so much better than mine. I know about five words!
I was surprised to read a little Finn this morning. But Marsden doesn’t look Finn. Maybe Marsdenen – –
Dave, that’s because it’s her married name, although Marsdenen could work! 😉
I live in Finland and I so feel it like a native!
Just had this for the first time with our Finnish daughter-in-law. We reproduced it as soon as we got back to Wisconsin. Only mistake we made was using a 9×9 pan. It was too thick on the bottom. Still delicious. We will follow your steps next time. I love the photos of how everyone likes theirs!! Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, Katy! I’m so happy you all enjoyed the kropsu. Do you know what part of Finland your daughter-in-law’s family is from? Tell her that my daughter is in the process of writing a Finnish cookbook based on my husband’s family recipes from Finland. She might know many of the recipes. Go to http://www.homefarmlife.com to see photos of the family dairy farm in Finland and updates on the cookbook!
Thank you for sharing! My relatives are from the west coast of Finland south of Vaasa. It is a swedish-finn culture there so ours at home were fried in a pan but same custard texture. I like the krupsua so easy to make for a group!
Thank you for sharing! We have relatives on the west coast too. The recipe is a staple at our home.
One grandmother made the thin pancakes in a frying pan, the other made this. I remember it as being pronounced kropsua. She also made a cake that she poured orange juice over when she removed it from oven.
Linda, what part of Finland was your grandmother from? We found out from our Finnish cousins that calling it kropsu or kropsua is a regional dialect. Other parts of Finland call it “Pannukakku.” I find the Finnish language very difficult. I think I only know about 5 words, and those I can’t spell! But I do know that Niemi is Finnish! I would love to know that cake recipe with the orange juice poured on top. How interesting! I love Finnish food.
Brining was my grandmothers maiden name! We ate pasty’s and pannukakku all the time. Love this
We love pasty too. One of my husband’s cousins made it every Saturday for a noon meal.
My grandmother always called it Suomalainen Pannukakka. She’s been gone for 50 years, and local Finns in Thunder Bay, Ontario call it Krupsua.
No matter what, my wife makes an awesome dish.
Hyva paiva.
Gotta love those mega-long Finn words! From what our cousins in Finland told us, Kropsu has different names across Finland. Whatever it is called, it’s so good! Thank you for writing.
I could be wrong, but I think the “-a” at the end of “kropsua” means “some or any,” as in “haluatko kropsua?” (“Do you want some kropsu?”)
Good to know, Lisa. My Finnish is basically non-existent! Any questions I have about cooking terms or names of recipes, I email our Finnish cousins. Even then, some words are so long, I couldn’t attempt to pronounce them correctly!
My Grandma was from Sweden and she made hers a little bit different. She rendered small cubes of salt pork in the oven instead of using butter, poured the batter over the pork and then baked it. We could hardly wait for it to come out of the oven.
Such a great story, Janet! Thank you for sharing it. I think there are several Scandinavian versions, all wonderful! We are going to have our Finnish kropsu over Christmas and serve with lingonberry jam. I can already taste it!
Kropsua or pannukakku is a staple in our home served with homemade maple syrup and/or lingonberry jam. Due to a reduced salt menu in our home, I forgo adding salt as the butter is already salted. No one has ever mentioned a lack of salt while eating, maybe because I also serve bacon, sausage or ham with!
Elizabeth, we serve it the same way! It’s one of our favorite weekend breakfasts.
OMG. I’m 73 and remember my Finnish grandmother making kropsua when I was a child. As an adult I tried to find a recipe, but I was spelling it with a G instead of a K! So glad to find this! The pronunciation I remember definitely had the a sound at the end. Looking forward to making this.
Nancy, I am so happy you found this recipe! We love it and have it often. Do you make any other Finnish dishes of your grandmother’s? I would love to hear about them if you do. We might make a lot of the same recipes! Thanks so much for writing.
Happened to stumble on this site. So interesting. I remember my mother making Kropsua, and she says every time my brother visits he now makes it. Now my wife makes something that looks like this,and she puts frozen blueberries in it, I will have to compare reciepes. Found it interesting about pouring batter into hot pan. Thank you… I will rate this after I make it. as a child I never cared for it. Haven’t had since.
Daniel, You also do not need to pour the melted butter out of the pan. Just pour the batter in the pan. I add half cup blueberries to the batter and another half cup on top with syrup. I also add 1/2 tsp almond or vanilla and sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg to batter. We have made this all of our lives with my Finnish family in Minnesota. Now teaching my grandchildren in Las Vegas NV.
Hello,
This looks so good! I’ve never had anything like this, so I have a few questions.
1: Can I use an aluminum cake pan for this? Or glass pyrex? The photo above looks like it’s a (beautiful) cast iron pan— I don’t think I have anything like that in 9×13, alternatively I could half the recipe and use my 10inch cast iron skillet??
2: could I make the batter the night before?
3: it’s just 2 of us in the house, are left overs ok reheated? If there are any ☺️
Thanks! And I loved reading all the comments about the further versions and grabbing recipes. My grandmother is French, I really need to get cooking with her again!
Hi Stephanie- I would love for you to enjoy our family Finnish recipe. So to answer your questions:
1) While a cast iron or heavy pan like a Le Creuset is best, I would certainly try the other options you mentioned making it the same way as directed, although I have never tried it. I also have never halved the recipe, but that might work in your 10-inch cast iron skillet.
2) No, I would not make the batter the night before.
3) Good question! We actually have never had leftovers so I wouldn’t know!
4) I guess I wasn’t too much help!? If you try your other pans, I hope it works because it’s so good and looks so pretty with fresh fruits or jam, or even served with maple syrup and breakfast sausages. Good luck! Let us know if it works.
5) How fun to have a French grandmother you can cook with!
I am so glad I came across your recipe. I wanted to find a finnish pancake recipe to try after recently hearing from my grandmother that it was one of her favorite things to eat growing up in the UP. In lieu of a recipe from our family, I look forward to making this one knowing it came from another Finnish family in the UP!
Hi Shaina- I’m so glad you found the recipe too! It’s one of our absolute favorites to make on Sunday mornings. I have more recipes on my blog of Finnish recipes from relatives in the UP, as well as from cousins in Finland. I hope you love the pancake as much as we do. Thank you for writing!
Excellent! I enjoyed every bite!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Sally! It’s a family favorite here.
Enjoyed reading your recipes and all the comments. I am a Finn from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I have enjoyed kropsua since I was a child. I have passed our recipe to my daughters, and now to my grandchildren.
Keep up the good work!!
Joyce, thank you so much for writing. I always enjoy hearing from Finns, and Yooper Finns! I also love how you have passed down the kropsu recipe to your daughters and grandchildren as I have too. I would love to hear what other Finnish recipes you make!
Delicious! We preferred lingonberries on top over cloudberries but both were amazing!
Lingonberries are our favorite too!