A pastry made from leftover pie dough rolled up with a butter-brown-sugar-cinnamon filling like a cinnamon roll, sliced and baked until sticky and caramelised. Emerged in 19th-century Quebec as a zero-waste dessert created by nuns.
Pets de sœurs, literally nun's farts, is a pastry that emerged in 19th-century Quebec (and Acadian communities) as an economical, zero-waste dessert created by nuns to use up leftover pie dough. The scraps are rolled out, spread with a butter, brown sugar and cinnamon filling (sometimes maple syrup), rolled up like a cinnamon roll, sliced, and baked until sticky and caramelised. The cheeky sacrilegious name is itself a piece of Quebecois folk culture, and the dish is a humble sugar-shack and home dessert.
Sticky, caramelised spirals of crisp pastry with a gooey, spiced brown-sugar-and-cinnamon filling running through, the edges dark and chewy. Eaten warm, they are sweet, buttery and intensely cinnamon.
Leftover pie dough is rolled into a rectangle, spread with softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, then rolled up tightly like a log. The log is sliced into rounds, which are placed flat in a baking dish and baked. The butter-sugar-cinnamon melts and caramelises between the pastry layers, gluing them together and forming a sticky syrup at the bottom. The dish is often baked with a little water or syrup in the bottom to keep the rolls moist.
Variations
A maple version uses maple sugar instead of brown. Some add raisins to the filling.
On the Palate
Where Pets de Sœur sits in the Canadian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
6 steps · 40 min
- 18 min
Roll 500g leftover pie dough into a 30x40cm rectangle.
- 26 min
Spread 80g softened butter over the dough; sprinkle with 150g brown sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon.
- 36 min
Roll up tightly from the long side into a log; slice into 12 rounds.
Watch outRoll the log tight before slicing — a loose roll lets the butter-sugar leak out instead of caramelizing between the layers.
- 44 min
Place the rounds cut-side down in a buttered baking dish; pour 100ml water and 2 tbsp maple syrup around them.
- 515 min
Bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes until the tops are deep golden and the syrup is bubbling.
Watch outBake until the tops are deep golden and the syrup at the bottom is bubbling — pale tops mean the pastry's still raw inside.
- 64 min
Rest 5 minutes and serve warm.
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