Whether you’re looking to send something thoughtful to a friend or have a craving you can’t deny, food delivery has, undoubtedly, made the lives of Canadians a bit more delicious – especially when it comes to desserts. And the research backs this up.
According to a 2022 report from Restaurants Canada and DoorDash, baked goods were the most widely ordered type of food for delivery and pickup across the country, while desserts ranked third. Sure, that’s a lot of satisfied sweet tooths, but with expanding (and fast!) delivery options across the country, these Canadian treats also make for effortless and unique smile-inducing gifts.
Best Canadian dessert delivery services
Northern Bars, Vancouver, B.C.
Classic Nanaimo bars, with their no-bake layers of crunchy graham and coconut, bright-yellow custard buttercream and rich chocolate, can often be on the too-sweet side. Not so with Northern Bars. Co-owners and life partners Samuel Hartono and Michelle Avelena started the business in 2020, aiming to put the iconic treat, which is named for the B.C. city, on the map outside of Canada.
Their takes on the traditional bars come in bite-size portions and are packed in a giftable box that is illustrated with famous Vancouver landmarks and can be delivered across Canada for a flat fee. They also offer elevated spins with limited-edition flavours—like Saskatoon Berry and the Quebec-inspired Smokey Maple Nanaimo bar flavours.
Craig’s Cookies, Toronto, Ont.
There are chocolate chip cookies, and there are Craig’s Cookies. Founder Craig Pike first learned how to bake from his mom while growing up in St. John’s, NL, and was inspired to launch his business in 2013, when he started selling his cookies to Toronto-based Facebook friends as a fun way to help pay his bills.
He has since helped develop over 100 flavours, combining chocolate chip cookie dough with Oreos, Mini Eggs, Cherry Blasters, pecan butter tarts and just about any other outrageous (yet totally delicious) ingredient you can imagine. You’ll usually find lineups at the bakery’s original Toronto locations, but the cookies can also be delivered Canada-wide.
Point G, Montreal, Que.
Point G quickly became a Montreal staple when French pastry chef Julien Reignier—who has trained around the world with the likes of culinary stars Paul Bocuse and Pierre Hermé—opened its first location in 2008 on Mont-Royal Avenue East. It’s best known for its colourful macarons (available in a variety of flavours like mojito and chai latte), but we’ve got our eye on something a little different this gift-giving season: the delicate, perfectly spongy madeleines, which come in chocolate and lemon vanilla. Orders ship across Canada.
Hoopla Donuts, Calgary, Alta.
What’s one surefire way to make your morning cup of coffee even better? Add a doughnut, of course. That’s the thinking that led to Calgary’s Hoopla Donuts, which was started by the duo behind the city’s ultra-popular coffee chain Phil & Sebastian. Years of testing went into the creation of these eye-catching gourmet doughnuts, which you can find in a rotating menu of flavours that include Cereal Milk, London Fog and a yogurt-glazed old-fashioned. Delivery is free if you order a dozen or more – but you do have to be in the Calgary area to enjoy them.
The Lemon Square, Vancouver, B.C.
There’s a beautiful simplicity to a good lemon bar – something that the team behind The Lemon Square knows well. The gift-ready desserts are the perfect balance of sour and sweet thanks to the use of fresh lemons and the coconut-graham crumble base.
Find The Lemon Square’s bars at farmers’ markets, cafés, arts conventions and a charming Granville Island kiosk in their Vancouver homebase, or order online for nation-wide delivery. Pro tip: Order extra and pop them in the freezer –and then pull one out whenever the mood strikes.
