Sklandrauši

Medium·1 hour active + 1 hour resting

Latvia's first dish granted EU Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) status — rye-flour dough shaped into small open cups, filled with potato mash topped with sweetened carrot mash, baked, and brushed with a caraway-honey-and-sour-cream glaze.

Sklandrauši is a heritage tart from the Kurzeme (Courland) coast of western Latvia, tied to the Livonian and Suiti peoples — a rye crust filled with potato-and-carrot paste spiced with caraway. Dating to the 16th–17th century, it is one of the country's oldest sweets and survives as living folk craft. In 2013 it became the first Latvian food granted EU Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) status, and it is the edible emblem of the Suiti Cultural Space, inscribed on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2009.

Pick up a sklandrauši — small open pastry cup, dark rye edges, layered potato-and-carrot mash visible. Bite: rye crust dense and earthy, potato mash buttery-mild, carrot mash sweet from honey with caraway's licorice spice, sour cream's tang. The flavor layering reflects centuries of Kurzeme-coast tradition. With a glass of milk, this is the signature heritage sweet of the Suiti people.

Rye dough's pliability comes from gluten + water + butter. The two layered mashes (potato + carrot) create flavor distinction. Glaze adds shine and sweetness.

Variations

With more honey on top. With added pumpkin in carrot layer. Without caraway. Smaller cocktail-size. With added almonds. With sour cream and dill instead.

On the Palate

Where Sklandrauši sits in the Latvian flavor cloud

Cook to learn

Pinch the rye rounds into little standing cups with walls that hold — the crust is stiff, low-gluten rye, so shape it while pliable and bake hot enough that the walls set before the two fillings can slump.

Techniques

Baking Kneading

Ingredients

Serves 8

400 gRye Flour

100 g + 1 tbsp wheatFlour

100 g + glazeSour Cream

How it's made

10 steps · 1 hour active + 1 hour waiting

1
40 min
Make dough: 400 g rye flour + 100 g wheat flour + 1 tsp salt + 50 g butter + 200 ml warm water + 1 egg. Knead 8 min. Rest 30 min.
2
27 min
Make potato filling: boil 400 g potato 25 min; mash with 50 g butter, 100 ml milk, 1 tsp salt.
3
22 min
Make carrot filling: boil 400 g carrot 20 min; mash with 100 g sour cream + 2 tbsp honey + 1 tsp caraway + 1 tbsp flour.
4
8 min
Roll dough thinly; cut 10-cm circles.
5
6 min
Form each circle into an open cup by pinching up the sides 2 cm.
Watch out
Pinch the walls up about 2 cm and make sure there are no cracks for filling to leak through.
6
6 min
Fill each with 1 tbsp potato mash, then top with 1 tbsp carrot mash.
7
2 min
Preheat oven to 220°C.
Watch out
Get the oven fully up to 220°C before the tarts go in.
8
22 min
Bake sklandrauši 20-25 min until edges are golden-brown.
Watch out
Pull them when the rye edges are golden-brown and set, not pale.
9
1 min
Optional glaze: brush with sour cream + honey mixture.
10
1 min
Serve warm with tea.