18 Jan, 2016
How to make deep fried pastries that resemble the tail of a beaver
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Easy ways to make kids happy|Recipes and Food
Ages ago I bookmarked a post on the Ottawa Mommy Club website aptly named: Canadian Fried Dough Pastry. I’m assuming it’s called this because it’s not associated in any way with BEAVERTAILS®, which is a registered trademark.
If you’ve never experienced this delicious treat, you are seriously missing out. This hot, deep-fried, sweet pastry is available at many places in Ottawa and is almost always associated with some kind of outdoor activity, whether it’s skating on the canal (which is where we tend to buy them) or checking out the annual tulip festival.
Something must have come over me – or aliens must have taken over the person formerly known as Andrea Tomkins – because I’ve made this recipe twice in the space of one week. If you know me you know that I generally don’t like to bake and I don’t generally indulge in sweet things, but there it is.
If you have a stand mixer, this recipe comes together very easily. The more time-consuming part is rolling out each “tail” but a second pair of hands (even little ones) will come in handy at this point. The frying and sugaring is also quick. Here’s the thing, this recipe made SO MANY. Maybe we were making them on the smaller side; as each of our tails was about the length of a hand span. We stuffed our faces and gave some away to friends – and we didn’t even use all of the dough! (We froze the leftover dough, which I defrosted and made again on Saturday night at which point I discovered that they truly are best dipped in the traditional cinnamon/sugar mix and a post-sugaring squirt of fresh lemon juice.)
I made a second batch on Sunday afternoon with the intent of dividing up the dough and freezing it for future use. I am happy to report that we now have 31 golf-ball-sized portions tucked away in the freezer.
When we decide to make them again I’ll just pull a bunch out of the freezer and let them defrost on the counter. When I’m ready, I’ll roll ’em out and fry ’em up. At this point I figure I have enough to last us all winter long. (!)