Over the past weekend, tens of thousands of people headed to Midland, Ontario for their annual Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival, where both professional and amateur home bakers competed to win the best butter tart in the province.
The contest, judged by celebrities, chefs, food and travel bloggers, and even local dignitaries, awarded bakers in two categories: traditional and wild style.
This year, Toronto bakery The Pie Commission took the top prize for the Best in Show and 1st Place Professional Traditional Winner.
The bakery based in Etobicoke won for their Pecan Butter Tart, and it was their first time entering the competition!
Known for their savoury meat pies as well as dessert offerings, The Pie Commission makes all their pies by hand in small patches, “using a unique folding process that produces a pastry that is endlessly flaky and delicious” reads their website.
Luckily, you don’t have to go too far to try the best butter tart for 2024 in the province, as The Pie Commission is located at 927 The Queensway in Etobicoke.
Other prize winners this year were The Maid’s Cottage for the Professional Wild Style category, with their Black Forest Mocha Tart, Christine Hodgkinson’s Walnut Raisin Butter Tart for the 1st Place Amateur Traditional competition, and Share Rendell’s Cafe Mocha Butter Tart for the 1st Place Amateur Wild Style competition.
You can check out the full list of winner on their website here.
Next year’s festival takes place on June 14, 2025. Don’t miss out!