I tried my first BeaverTail in Canada … and loved it!

Pam LeBlanc enjoys a treat from BeaverTails at Sunshine Ski Resort in Alberta, Canada in February 2022. Chris LeBlanc photo

Add BeaverTails to the list of Canadian food specialties I taste tested during last week’s trip to Banff.

First, I tried poutine – a mound of French fries topped in cheese curds and doused with brown gravy. Then I tried a BeaverTail – a ball of dough hand stretched into the shape of a beaver’s tail, then fried and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

If you want, you can get your BeaverTail topped with banana slices. Perhaps you’d prefer maple cream. Or try vanilla frosting and crunched up chocolate cookies. Or Reese’s pieces. You can even order what’s called a PouTail, a BeaverTail crowned with French fries, cheese curds and gravy.

Trying BeaverTails at Sunshine Ski Resort

While skiing Sunshine Ski Resort a few days ago, I stopped by the new BeaverTails trailer that opened on the mountain this season. People told me this was a big deal. And I have to say, I’m a fan. Imagine eating a broad, flat donut, hot out of the fryer, during a break in a day spent whizzing down frozen mountain slopes.

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Sublime.

Chris LeBlanc picks up his order at the BeaverTails trailer at Sunshine Ski Resort. Pam LeBlanc photo

I ordered the classic – just cinnamon and sugar. While I watched from a safe distance, the BeaverTails’ technician stretched out a wad of dough into an oval about 12 inches long and 5 inches wide. Then he dropped it in hot oil, plucked it out when it had bubbled to perfection, sprinkled it with the goods, and served it to me piping hot.

I washed it down with a side of hot cocoa.

BeaverTails originated in Ontario in 1978. The chain has expanded throughout Canada and into the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, France and, yes, the United States.

So far, though, BeaverTails has not made its way to Texas.