10 Famous Canadian Holiday Desserts

Almost everyone loves sweets or desserts of some kind and Canadians are no different. Although not all these desserts you will read about are necessarily made in Canada most are still Canadian favorites from coast to coast.

1. British Columbia's Nanaimo Bar

The dessert was created and surfaced in Nanaimo British Columbia in the early fifties when a house wife submitted her recipe for the bars in a recipe contest. She won and the dessert ended up gathering substantial publicity.

The dessert can be made many different ways but the original recipe consist of a bottom layer of chocolate and (sometimes) nuts like a brownie then a layer of light custard then topped with the final layer of chocolate. Once the treat is completely cold it's ready to eat.

This dessert is huge all across Canada and can be found in just about any restaurant or coffee shop around here. I warn you its very sweet but delicious.

2. Northern Ontario Canadian Butter Tart

Many people claim this form of pecan butter tart originated in Canada around 1915 and has been a Canadian favorite ever since.

This incredible tasting little tart basically is made with a type of pie crust filled with a filling that contains eggs, light muscovite sugar, vanilla extract, butter, single cream and either pecans or walnuts all mixed together and baked.

Weather or not it originated here the one thing I do know is the majority of Canadians love butter tarts.

3. Newfoundland's Figgy Duff Steamed Pudding

Now steamed pudding is not anything new by any means but when the Newfoundlanders got a hold of it they put a spin on the recipe by adding raisins and other ingredients. Somewhere along the way the dish ended up getting the name Figgy Pudding after the raisins where added.

This is one of Newfoundland's most popular and traditional desserts. Basically there are many ways to make this steamed pudding and there are many different names for it but the Newfoundlanders recipes and the way it's cooked are unique. Some articles I read claim the pudding contents are steamed in a bag in the traditional way it was first made.

4. Ottawa's Beaver Tails or Elephant Ears

Normally called fried dough pretty much all over the world here in Canada this tasty little treat is known as the famous "Beaver Tail or Elephant Ears". You can usually find these desserts at any carnival or fair grounds booth.

A festival in Ottawa known as Winterlude specializes in these delightful snacks every year on the Ottawa canal where there are hoards of Ice Sculptures to be seen.

The basic make up of this dessert is simple. Its fried dough sprinkled with cinnamon but there are other ways of doing it just depends where you buy one. Great little treat that I look forward to when the festival starts and also a very popular Canadian dessert.

5. Thunder Bay's Persian Pastry

The tasty looking little dessert is known as the "Persian Pastry" which originated in Thunder Bay, Ontario. It's similar to a donut in shape but yet in taste resembles that of a cinnamon bun.

It's an easily made quick dessert. All you do is simply roll out some dough in a long cylinder shape and roll it in cinnamon, then baked topped with pink icing. Thunder Bay boasts on having the best Persians in Canada to this day.

Most visitors to the area and residents swear it tastes like a little piece of heaven a definite must try if you ever visit Thunder Bay.

6. Quebec's Sucre a la Crème

This is a traditional dessert from Quebec which also originated there. Out of all the Canadian desserts mentioned this little treat is the easiest, fastest dessert to be made since there are only 3 ingredients involved.

All you need to make this is:

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup heavy cream

All you do is mix all the ingredients together and cook in the microwave at full power for 10 minutes then let stand for 5 minutes. After that you mix it with an electric beater for 4 minutes then pour into cube shape containers and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

This is great and popular little Canadian dessert which anyone can make.

7. Canada's Best Ice Cream

Now most of us like ice cream and we Canadians are no different. Cows Ice Cream voted Canada's best ice cream. Everyone I know that's visited one of these ice cream shops loved it. They offer over 35 flavors of ice cream and there are only about 6 of these shops scattered around Canada. There is one in Park City, Utah so if you ever get a chance then try out Canada's best ice cream you won't be sorry.

8. Maple Syrup on Snow

Now ever since I was a young boy I loved this little dessert and many if not all Canadians have tried this once. Its basically hot Canadian maple syrup poured out on snow then a stick is placed on the syrup and rolled.

The French sometimes refer to this as the "Tire" dessert or it's also known as Maple Taffy. In Canada this is a tradition that still happens to this day. It is not known where exactly this dessert originated.

9. Canadian Brown Sugar Pie

This is one of the sweeter Canadian desserts which originated and is very popular in Quebec. As you guessed it from the name it's a basic pie only made from brown sugar.

A very sweet dessert to be served on rare or special occasions because if you eat a dessert like this regularly then be prepared to pay a ton out to the dentist. Still is one of Canada's most popular desserts.

10. Canadian Apple Pie

Nothing special here just your typical Canadian apple pie and there's no real difference between this and any other pie except for the apples that are used. No matter whom you are American or Canadian most of us love a good slice of hot apple pie.

Canadians like any other people love their sweets and always will!