BeaverTails Recipe

Hailing from Canada, we bring you the BeaverTail. These flat, fried treats can be described as the Canadian version of a donut. First introduced at the Killaloe Fair, founder Grant Hooker was inspired by his German-Canadian grandmother, who made a deep-fried bread for breakfast and topped it with cinnamon sugar, butter and jam, or butter and honey. His daughter said the treats looked like a beaver’s tail and the name stuck! BeaverTails are a national symbol for Canadian culture and are sold across Canada. Ontario BBQ grillmaster Steph Bouchard shares his BeaverTail recipe with us so you make these treats for yourself!

Items Needed

Ingredients

Dough

  • ½ cup warm water
  • 5 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 tsp white sugar
  • 1 cup warm milk
  • ⅓ cup white sugar
  • 1 ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract 
  • 3 eggs beaten
  • ⅓ cup vegetable oil
  • 5 cups whole wheat flour
  • Vegetable oil for frying 

Cinnamon Sugar

  • 2 cups white sugar 
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Toppings

  • Chocolate syrup
  • M&Ms
  • Nutella
  • Anything you want!

Directions

  1. Add warm water, dry yeast and 1 tsp sugar to a bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes for yeast to bloom.
  2. Stir in milk, 1/3 cup sugar, salt, vanilla extract, eggs and 1/3 cup vegetable oil until combined.
  3. If using a mixer, attach a dough hook and add 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Add remaining 1 cup of flour slowly until dough starts to pull away from the sides. Knead for another 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a lightly oiled Cambro container. I loosely place the cover on top and let rise for 1 hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
  4. Punch down dough and knead a bit more on a lightly floured surface. Grab a piece of the dough and roll into a ball roughly the size of a golf ball. Using a rolling pin roll it out to approximately 1/4 of an inch thick. Keeping the dough in an oval shape (like a beavertail!)
  5. Prepare the cinnamon sugar by mixing 2 cups of granulated white sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Feel free to adjust to your preferred taste. I like to use Camwear food pans as it makes it easier for coating later.
  6. Drop the flattened dough into oil that is around 375°F for 30 to 45 seconds a side. When golden brown, remove the pastry from the pan, shake off excess oil and drop it into the cinnamon sugar mixture, making sure to coat both sides. Transfer coated pastries to paper towel or wire rack.
  7. Here’s where you can get creative! One of my favourite culinary quotes coined by the Queen of BBQ herself Danielle Bennett (DivaQbbq on social media) is that “It’s your house!” This means grab all of your favourite treats, go crazy and experiment. I use things like chocolate sauce, M&M’s, Nutella etc.

Enjoy this tasty classic Canadian carnival treat and feel free to tag @Maxemum_bbq with your end results!