Chocolate Bar Cookies
If you grew up in Canada, Halloween meant a pillowcase full of candy — and certain bars always felt like a jackpot. Twix was one of those treasures, right up there with Coffee Crisp and KitKat. The combination of crisp biscuit, gooey caramel, and milk chocolate was worth a careful trade with your siblings or friends. These homemade squares capture the same magic: buttery shortbread, golden caramel, and smooth chocolate layered together. Not just for Halloween night, they shine on cookie trays and at gatherings — and they disappear just as quickly.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Every Canadian family seems to have their own version of oatmeal cookies. Ours strike the perfect balance: golden and crisp at the edges, soft and chewy in the centre, with plenty of chocolate chips. A mix of butter and golden Crisco keeps them from spreading too much, while a handful of hemp seeds adds a nutty flavour and a distinctly Canadian twist. Simple, sturdy, and comforting, these cookies are just as at home in a lunchbox as they are warm from the oven with a glass of milk.
Fudgy Brownies with Crinkly Top
Brownies that crackle on top, get golden-crispy on the edges, and stay luscious and fudgy at heart — these are the kind you make when chocolate is what you’re truly craving. Canadians have adopted them in kitchens and bake sales alike: each family with their preference for chocolate bits or nuts, but all agreeing on the joy of pulling a warm tray from the oven and hearing that shattering top.
Canadian Maple Fudge
Few sweets feel more Canadian than maple fudge. Creamy, melt-in-your-mouth, and rich with pure maple syrup, it’s a treat you’ll find at sugar shacks, fairs, and holiday markets across the country. For many families, a tray of homemade maple fudge at Christmas or during maple season in early spring is a tradition that ties generations together. Smooth and sweet, it’s a taste of Canada in every bite.
Cinnamon Buns
Few things are as inviting as the smell of cinnamon buns baking — sweet spice filling the house, pillowy dough waiting to be pulled apart. For me, they carry nostalgia from Sweden and Denmark, where kanelbullar are part of every coffee break. And in Canada, that tradition found new life — from prairie kitchens to the smell of Cinnabon in the malls of the ’80s and ’90s, and of course the IKEA food court, where many of us first tasted Swedish-style buns after wandering the aisles of flat-pack furniture.