“You’re going to make what AND put them on your blog?”
This was the confused/horrified reaction of a few friends when I told them I was cooking up ‘beaver tails’ for my next post. They thought I had gone completely mad, and no doubt were also wondering where, in fact, I would find some beaver tails in Australia? Then I explained….
I first discovered this Canadian pastry while living in Canada in 2000 and working the ski season in Banff. For my non- Canadian readers, a “beavertail” is a fried sweet cakey pastry dusted in cinnamon not unlike a flat donut and is a Canadian institution to be found on the ski hills. The shape is like a beaver tail owing to its name. I used to inhale them hot, slathered with melting nutella or caramel and it was always the perfect ending to a day of snow boarding without fail.
I was recently reminded of these little pockets of hot crispy, donut-y goodness when giving my good friend Bea travel tips on her impending trip to Canada last month. You can read about her incredibly romantic reunion with her other half on her very funny blog here.
While in Canada, Bea was going out for a day of skiing with “Bill” (not his real name – “Bill” is a little blog shy). I imagined her being reunited at the bottom of the slopes at the end of the day with pastry in hand, untold love in her eyes (or was it her stomach?) and nutella accidentally smeared on her face that Bill would find sweetly endearing.
Unfortunately, Bea was so distracted by Bill that she managed to ski right on past the beavertails shop and straight into the car park. This may or may not be a little creative fabrication on my behalf, but either way, she did not get to experience the untold joy and wonder that is a ‘beavertail. So, in the face of this tragedy, I promised I would post a recipe on the blog so she could still relive little bit of Canada, post holiday. Happy eating Bea!
Particularly wonderful eating when the weather is awful, but so good anytime, you really need no excuse to eat beavertails. A word of warning though, my other half thought Christmas had come early on trying the samples and ate so many he actually made himself ill (this was rather amusing). Stopping at one is extremely difficult – Good luck!