Doo Doo’s Bakery, located in Bailieboro, Ontario, has become a pilgrimage for Canadian butter tart aficionados. Today, we tell you exactly why, and run through exactly what kind of tarts they’re baking to be in the running for the best butter tarts in Ontario.
Is there a more quintessentially Canadian treat than the butter tart?
Off the top of our heads, it sure is hard to think of one. Many Canadians don’t know that butter tarts were actually a common staple of pioneer Canadian cooking, so the butter tart makers of today are carrying on a lengthy (and delicious) tradition.
One of those people that is certainly paying respect to the history of the butter tart, while simultaneously experimenting and forging new paths, is Diane Rogers from Doo Doo’s Bakery.
And, she’s not shy about saying that she feels she makes Ontario’s best butter tart – and the awards lining the walls of the bakery seem to agree with her.
About Doo Doo’s Bakery
You’ll find Doo Doo’s Bakery in Bailieboro, Ontario, which is located about 25 minutes southwest of Peterborough.
It’s a small, unassuming bakery that you could accidentally drive past if you were driving too quickly, but you might notice that there are a lot of cars in the parking lot out front.
We’ve been a few times to Doo Doo’s now, and it’s safe to say we’ve never met someone as passionate about butter tarts as Diane. We walk into the shop, are wooed by the sweet smell of butter tarts, and Diane is always there behind the counter, as energetic and ready to help as ever.
“Our butter tarts are handcrafted bursts of sweet and savoury – lovingly baked for those who enjoy both flakey crusts and creamy fillings.
We bake fresh every day. We do everything by hand and it sure does pay off in the taste of the tart.”
They’ve been featured on CBC, in the Toronto Star, Reader’s Digest, Canadian Living, Cottage Life, and, of course, now We Explore Canada. We’ve likely mentioned them a few times over on Ultimate Ontario as well, to be honest.
They’ve won 1st place prizes at Kawartha’s Buttertart Tour Tasteoff, Ontario’s Best Buttertart Festival (in Midland, Ontario), as well as the Royal Winter Fair.
All that to say, these are some highly decorated butter tarts!
We should probably note as well, we’ve tried a lot of butter tarts in this province, and it’s hard to disagree with Diane’s assertion that these are the best butter tarts in Ontario.
Currently, they’re open Tuesday – Saturday from 9am to 5pm.
Doo Doo’s Butter Tarts
Let’s roll through what butter tarts that they have on offer, so you know what you want to try! It’s quite a nice array of butter tarts if we do say so ourselves.
We should note that they offer daily pickup, and offer contactless curbside pickup for those keen on that. Importantly for our readership, they also offer Canda-wide shipping as long as you order at least two dozen butter tarts. You can contact them here if you have further questions about that!
They do run out of butter tarts occasionally, especially later in the day, so just understand they may not have all of the tarts listed below at the ready. Some butter tarts are also seasonal, but regardless, there will be a big selection available when you go.
We love that you can also build out your own mixed pack so you can try a bunch at once!
- Classic Plain Butter Tart: The go-to for the Canadian butter tart purists.
- Pecan Tart: Both sweet and salty thanks the addition of some pecans!
- Raisin Butter Tart: An absolute classic that’s made with love and care. Perfectly sweet.
- Cheesecake Butter Tart: We love cheesecake and we love butter tarts, so this was essentially heaven personified.
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart: It is as it sounds – chocolatey, peanut goodness in a butter tart.
- Maple Whiskey Butter Tart: Okay, we’re just going to include the description they have on their site for this one because it’s just too good. “As Canadian as Stompin’ Tom, a sweet blend maple and whiskey.”
- Maple Bacon Butter Tart: We weren’t sold on this one, to be honest. And then we tried it, and let’s just say you should not leave Doo Doo’s without tasting this bad boy.
- Raspberry Coconut Butter Tart: This, to us, might be the unsung hero of Doo Doo’s. If you’re looking for a different kind of butter tart, look no further. The raspberry filling in these guys is just on another level.
- Lemon Butter Tart: You can tell these are homemade and using the right ingredients because these have a nice citrus zing to them!
- Pumpkin Butter Tart: When it’s available, this is truly a customer favourite. And honestly, why wouldn’t it be? It sounds absolutely delicious.
- Black Currant Butter Tart: Black currant offers one of those flavours that people either love or hate. If you love it, you’re going to love this tart.
- Raspberry Butter Tart: We’re not sure if they still do this, but they used to make these with a little heart crust on the top, and that wooed our hearts every time. A nice balance of sweet and savoury here, but a little more on the sweet side.
- Fireball Butter Tart: It’s exactly what you think it is. Cinnamon and whiskey, baby!
- Gluten Free Butter Tart: The plain butter tart with all the flavour and none of the gluten.
Beyond butter tarts, Doo Doo’s also makes things like sausage rolls, meat & cheese croissants, cinnamon buns, cookies, mincemeat tarts, danishes, meat pies, quiches, and more!
We should quickly note here as well that if you’re based in Ontario, you may also see Doo Doo’s Bakery as some local farmers’ markets. You can find out more about that here, but we believe they’re currently at both the Cobourg Farmers Market and the Peterborough Downtown Farmers Market.
Some Top Notch Ontario Butter Tarts Await
We recently posted about Doo Doo’s on our sister site’s TikTok channel, and we had people from all across the province heading here. One person even noted that they drove 3.5 hours each way, and they said it was totally worth it.
On that note, if this article does inspire you to head to Doo Doo’s and to test the theory of whether they really do offer the best butter tart, let us know in the comments below if it lived up to the hype, and what your favourite variation was.
As always, we hope this encourages you to get out and explore, and to support small businesses that help make this country special.
We want to humbly thank Peterborough & the Kawarthas for hosting us as media. All opinions are completely our own.
If you appreciated this article, you’ll love our newsletter, as well as our Facebook group! Feel free to join, all are welcome.
Christopher Mitchell is a Co-founder of We Explore Canada. He’s visited over 80 countries and has lived on 4 continents, but now has his eyes set squarely on exploring this incredible country and helping others do the same.