Guides / Dishes & Drinks

Toronto's Best Holiday Treats

Christine Peddie

10 months ago

Your dreams of late may not be populated by sugar plums but we're willing to bet certain sweets are on your holiday wish list. If so, you'll want to trust Toronto's top sweet-tooth caterers to deliver the best holiday treats to satisfy. Whether you cherish chocolate, go gaga for gingerbread, or find peppermint supremely pleasing, our list includes every goodie you need to sweeten the days ahead.

Scan the list, then decide which items you want to gift, which you want on-hand for visitors, which won't survive the walk home, and which ones you'll want in the freezer for melancholy, post-holiday days. Enjoy every bite of Toronto's best holiday treats, and relish your sweetest season yet.

130 Eglinton Ave E

The Social Blend

Trust the dream team at The Social Blend to take treasured holiday flavours and morph them into towering macarons and dacquoises boasting a stupefying amount of buttercream. For December, eggnog, red velvet, bûche de noël, and more get The Social Blend treatment, to delicious effect.

1970 Avenue Rd

The Rolling Pin

In our book, mini translates to many — as in, we'll eat many of almost any mini food. If you subscribe to the same philosophy, you'll want to order a few dozen of The Rolling Pin's mini-sized, jelly-filled doughnuts. In five flavours, from lemon to Nutella, they make for tasty snacking during each of Hanukkah's eight days of celebrations.

362 King St E

Steven Tran Chocolates

A local chocolate savant, Steven Tran creates aesthetically perfect flavour bombs from couverture and a host of tasty add-ins. New for the holidays, he's created a 3-piece set of caramel praline bars featuring salted caramel pecan, cider caramel hazelnut praline and Bailey's caramel praline cookie crunch. If you feel selfish for not sharing, just remind yourself that you need to keep your strength up as you tackle your to-do list.

1945 Avenue Rd

Short and Sweet Bakeshop - North York

There's a time and a place for a cookie the size of your face. Happily, it's here. Surprise loved ones, neighbours, employees, colleagues — yourself — with one of Short & Sweet's jumbo chocolate chip Xmas Cookiegrams and make friends for life. Chewy, crunchy, decorated with an appropriately flamboyant amount of buttercream, this cookie easily translates to holiday living at its finest.

362 King St E

Roselle

Roselle's newest holiday tradition (initiated last year) is a Chestnut Vanilla Entremet that you'll soon be welcoming to your own beloved list of tried-and-true customs. Featuring layers of crispy feuilletine, vanilla mousse, vanilla cake, chestnut spread and chestnut mousse, all crowned with whipped cream and candied chestnuts, it's like your spirit animal in dessert form — gloriously over-the-top in a sultry, low-key way.

Pretty Little Layers

Surprise guests with a Black Forest Entremet, Pretty Little Layers' latest flavour. A riotous combo of dark chocolate mousse, chocolate cake, morello cherry confit, Krisch namelaka and cherries, this modern take on classic Black Forest is every bit as gorgeous to gaze at, and heavenly to eat, as Rochelle Desouza's other artistic creations.

717 Queen St W

Nugateau Patisserie

Finding a dessert assortment that's as playful, tempting and decked out as Nugateau's Noel Box is a near-impossible task. Each eclair is decidedly too pretty to eat, so you may want to close your eyes before you dig in. Trust us, it'll be worth it.

3014 Dundas St W

Noctua Bakery

With three kinds of handmade panettone on offer, the team at Noctua caters to your every holiday craving. Go bold, with Gianduja, rich, with 64% dark Manjari chocolate, or classic, with supple panettone brimming with house-candied Valencia oranges and sultanas. With fresh batches available at the bakery every Monday until Christmas, your weeks are about to start on a blessedly high note.

1448 Dundas St W

Honey’s

Make plants the star of the table with Honey's premium plant-based ice creams. Whether you crave rum raisin or candy cane peppered with chocolate, you'll find the pint to partner with from here to the new year.

595 Bay St Unit E-01

Hazukido

When your morning croissant is decorated to look like a polar bear, you know you've hit peak holiday frivolity. Hold on to the festive feeling with Hazukido's Holiday Box, where each pastry — from a chocolate reindeer to a nutty x'mas tree — drives home the fun of the season from the moment you greet the day.

1162 Queen St W

The Grand Order of Divine Sweets

When the day calls for cake, make sure that cake is a towering chocolate confection decorated to look like the season's greatest antlered animal. Perfect for small fêtes, each cake is adorned with ears, antlers, a jaunty buttercream swirl and that telltale crimson nose. Surrender to each rich mouthful and bask in one of the season's sweetest moments.

483 Church St

Craig's Cookies - Church

Few things confer contentment quite like a freezer filled with cookies from Craig's. Select your favourites or opt for the Holiday Mix, order more than you think you need, and be ready for every visitor who pops by this month (including Christmas Eve's VIP).

668 College St

Coco's neighbourhood coffee shop

Add a nostalgic touch of elegance to any holiday table with Coco's picture-perfect sweets. Each is artfully decorated, loaded with luxurious ingredients and just the thing to add a touch of whimsy to any festive occasion.

120 Dundas St W

Butter Baker

Protest the big guy in red monopolizing December's cookie supply by stashing some entirely for yourself. A timeless classic, each of Butter Baker's Gingerbread Men is joyously spiced and dolled up with royal icing. Ready to be devoured by the fire, perhaps even shared, these are a tradition you won't want to miss.

1418 Dundas St W

Butter and Spice

When brownies are infused with Earl Grey tea and espresso, they're a perfectly acceptable upgrade to your usual breakfast. Order Butter & Spices' assorted holiday flavours, and you'll also have the perfect ending to lunch, dinner, and your midnight snack. Available in boxes of four to 18, you can decide just how naughty you want to be.

244 Augusta Ave

Bunner's Bakeshop

From Peppermint Nanaimo Bar Mini Cakes to Santa Baby Peppermint Patty cookies, Bunner's has enough holiday treats to fill a season's worth of dessert tables. Still, it's the elegant, tangy sweet White Chocolate Mousse and Cranberry Pie we'll be treating ourselves to as we soak up every ounce of contentment over the following weeks.

1636 Bayview Ave

Bomou Artisanal Bakery

If you're in the market for delicate, handcrafted treats and cute chocolate snowmen the children can disembowel to reveal myriad goodies, Bomou is a must visit destination. Just don't overlook the team's house-made baked goods, including traditional stollen made with cashews, handmade candied lemon and orange peel and marzipan. A yeasted bread that's packed with seasonal flavours, this is one you'll want for giving, and for yourself.

1121 Queen St E

Bobbette & Belle

Sift through Bobbette and Belle's sea of pastel buttercream, and you'll find a treasure that's a little less flashy, but just as fitting for the holidays. Coated in shiny, glossy, golden caramel, each piece of popcorn in the team's caramel corn is a wee work of art for your tastebuds. Buy this one in bulk, because you'll want it at the ready for every movie night throughout the season.

715 Queen St W

Bloomer's - Queen West

A treat all year round, Bloomer's handcrafted, vegan goodies are especially welcome come the holidays. In festive flavours like peppermint mocha and cranberry orange, they pack big holiday feels into animal-free, handheld delights.

859 College St

Barbershop Patisserie

Any new release from Barbershop Patisserie is reason for celebration but limited-edition holiday treats warrant extra enthusiasm. New this year, the Chocolate Hazelnut 2.0 is a luscious layered confection of hazelnut dacquoise, dark chocolate praline crunch and whipped milk chocolate mousse. Order one for a gift, one for a party, or one for a cozy weeknight. There's no occasion it can't improve.