I discovered these pastries as an exchange student in Finland and they are my absolute favorite in the whole wide world (my boyfriend's too). I have been searching high and low for a recipe and finally I found this one on Axis of Aevil so I thought I'd share. Can't wait to try it!!
There's the traditional Finnish filling as well as an American alternative since quark is pretty hard to find in the States.
NOTE: The vanilla cream flour can be replaced by mixing together 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar and 1/4 cup potato or wheat flour
Prepare filling by mixing ingredients into a smooth paste. Refrigerate until needed.
In a saucepan over low heat, warm the milk and butter to about 40C/104°F.
In a bowl, crumble the yeast into the warm milk and butter mixture. Add sugar, salt and egg. Mix together well until the yeast is dissolved.
Add flour gradually until the dough forms a ball. Add more flour only if it's still sticky and add only a little at a time.
Knead dough for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Place a towel over the bowl and let the dough double in a warm, draft-free place for about 30 minutes to 1 hour [warming the oven to ~40C/100F works very well as a proofing box].
Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Gently shape dough into rough rectangle with long side nearest you. Lightly flour dough and roll into a 16-inch x 12-inch (40cm x 30cm) rectangle.
Spread filling on the dough leaving a 1cm/.5in border on the far edge.
Beginning with long edge nearest you, roll dough into taut cylinder.
Firmly pinch seam to seal and roll cylinder seam-side down.
Very gently stretch and roll to cylinder of even diameter and 18-inch/45cm length; push ends in to create even thickness.
Using a sharp serrated knife and gentle sawing motion, slice cylinder in half, then slice each half in half again to create evenly sized quarters. Slice 3,8cm/1.5in pieces from the rolls and place into a rectangular pan using a spatula.
Cover with a towel and allow to rise for about 30 minutes while the oven warms to baking temperature.
Make icing.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200-225C/390-435F for about 13-15 minutes.
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