The wonderful aroma of a warm sweet pastry is becoming commonplace at many tourist locales across Canada -- but there is nothing common about this delicious, uniquely Canadian confection. People line up for these donut like snack! Yummy! And for some reason, it's an outdoor winter treat!

Beaver tail dough:
1/2 cup warm water
5 teaspoons dry yeast
pinch of sugar
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
4 1/4 - 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Oil for frying
Granulated sugar for dusting
Touch of cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS: (For the bread machine, choose the 'Dough' program). In a large mixing bowl, stir together the yeast, warm water and pinch of sugar. Allow to stand a couple of minutes to allow yeast to swell or dissolve. Stir in remaining sugar, milk, vanilla, eggs, oil, salt, and most of flour to make soft dough. Knead 5-8 minutes (by hand or with a dough hook), adding flour as needed to form a firm, smooth, elastic dough. Place in a greased bowl. Place bowl in a plastic bag and seal. (If not using right away, you can refrigerate the dough at this point). Let rise in a covered, lightly greased bowl; about 30-40 minutes.

Gently deflate dough. (If dough is coming out of the refrigerator, allow to warm up for about 40 minutes before proceeding). Pinch off a golf ball-sized piece of dough. Roll out into an oval and let rest, covered with a tea towel, while you are preparing the remaining dough. Heat about 4 inches of oil in fryer (a wok works best, but you can use a Dutch oven or whatever you usually use for frying). Temperature of the oil should be about 385 F. I toss in a tiny bit of dough and see if it sizzles and swells immediately. If it does, the oil temperature is where it should be. Add the beaver tails to the hot oil, about 1-2 at a time. BUT.....before you do, stretch the ovals into a tail - thinning them out and enlarging them as you do. Turn once to fry until the undersides are deep brown. Lift beaver tails out with tongs and drain on paper towels. Fill a large bowl with a few cups of white sugar. Toss beaver tails in sugar (with a little cinnamon if you wish) and shake off excess.
This recipe makes many Beaver tails.
They are also delicious with a smear of jam or apple pie filling. You can also eat it with a maple butter cream or something on - it is delicious!

My mom makes this and we call it fried bread. Instead of the rolling them in sugar we just put butter on it. We all just love it and have to take turns doing the frying and we eat them as soon as they come out of the grease.
Yummy!!!!!!!!!!
We are having a family dinner on Sunday. I just might have to ask her to make them.

Also sound like yummy fried dough. I have 1 a summer, though I could eat them every day!!!!

They sound wonderful and I just love the name. I'm copying this recipe.

I see you're from Ontario and wondered if you know about "Persians" that are made in Thunder Bay. They're yummy but IMO a bit heavy on the pink frosting. Here's what Wikepedia has to say about them:

"A Persian is an oval-shaped, cinnamon-bun-like pastry with a sweet, pink icing made of either raspberries or strawberries. It originated in and remains particular to the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

The Persian is a variation of the Pershing, a doughnut made from a yeast dough that is coiled with cinnamon and usually finished with a plain sugar glaze rather than pink icing. Pershings are widely available at doughnut shops elsewhere in North America. For Example, Busken's Bakery in Cincinnati refer to them as Persians, while Dunkin' Donut's refer to them as Coffee Rolls.

Traditional lore is that the Persian was named for U.S. general John 'Blackjack' Pershing[1] but the exact date of its inception and circumstances of its creation are no longer known, giving rise to competing claims and myths among people in the region. Its recipe remains a general secret with long-running debates on whether the icing contains raspberries or strawberries. Persians are often used fundraising items to be sold at schools, churches, shopping malls, and other social events."

It sounds like something you can get in the French Quarter in New Orleans. They use powdered sugar and call them bengiets (not sure of the spelling) I know how to eat them by the budketfulls but now how to spell them! LOL

PS When in doubt, look it up. Its spelled beignets. Can be eaten just out of the fryer with coffee and chicory and Cafe Dumonde in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Lucious!