Pulla or nisu is a type of dessert or pastry flavored with cardamom. It's served as coffee table treat with coffee or tea, and typically all around the year. In Finland pulla is typical in cafeterias where it is considered as a sign of quality of the place. Usually pulla is baked as a small brioche style or as a braided loaf called pullapitko. Also popular is korvapuusti, it is havin, this sweet, aromatic pastry is sometimes topped with pearl sugar or almond flakes, and usually requires about three hours of preparation. When the dough has risen, it can be braided to make it more decorative and festive. Some variations are topping it with chopped walnuts and vanilla icing, raisins added to the dough, cinnamon rolls, butter and sugar buns called voisilmäpulla, berry toppings and curd filled buns called rahkapulla. Cardamom-flavored pulla called korvapuusti and buns are commonly eaten in Finland and Sweden. Cardamom bread is considered a traditional food among Swedish Americans. Cardamom buns are eaten along with coffee or tea. Cardamom is a spice used in several Nordic countries in cakes, cookies, and biscuits, including traditional Christmas pastries in the cuisine of Finland.
Pulla
Pulla is a mildly-sweet Finnishsweet roll or dessert bread flavored with crushed cardamom seeds and occasionally raisins or sliced almonds. Braided loaves are formed from three or more strands of dough. The loaves may also be formed into a ring. They are typically coated with egg wash and then sprinkled with white sugar or almonds. Other types of pulla include small round ones that resemble English scones but have a sugar and butter topping, and larger cinnamon rolls called korvapuusti. The outside typically has a shiny brown glaze, formed by a coating of egg white, milk or a mixture of sugar and brewed coffee. Pitko is typically served in slices. Round pulla is served as a whole. Pulla is often served with coffee in Finland. Pulla is also common in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Northern Ontario, areas in the United States and Canada which have large Finnish populations. There it is also commonly known as nisu, an old Finnish word still in use with the same meaning in some dialects, despite originally simply meaning "wheat". "Korppu" is used instead to refer to a biscotti-like double-baked bread stick for dunking in coffee that is often made from leftover "nisu".
