The best pies in Toronto can be found in bakeries and pastry shops around the city, each with their own version a slice above the rest. Some stick to the traditional, serving a perfected copy of what Grandma used to make, buttery, flaky and filled with ripe fruit. Others raise the bar by adding crowd-pleasing details like chocolate drizzle tops and thicker shortbread crusts.
The origins of pie-making go back to 9500 B.C., when our ancestors made rustic free-form pies out of oats and wheat, filled them with honey and baked them over hot coals. The popularity of pies grew and spread throughout Europe via the Roman roads, until nearly everything seemed to be baked in some kind of pastry vessel.
My personal favourite, and one I'm hoping comes back in style, is the animated pie: A form of banquet entertainment, rabbits, birds, turtles, and even human beings were set into pies, to be released when the pie was cut. (That's why the old nursery rhyme goes "four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.") In the 14th century the Duke of Burgundy had a huge pie made that, when sliced open, released music from the 28 musicians stuffed inside. Now, doesn't that sound like a little slice of heaven?
Here are the best pies in Toronto.
See also:
The best meat pies in Toronto
10 bakeries to buy pumpkin pie in Toronto