A Dessert Lover’s Guide To Chicago

Annette’s homemade ice cream is the perfect treat for the warm days ahead. Not only does Annette’s serve ice cream flavors like salty caramel, peanut butter cookie dough, and raspberry rendezvous, but also a variety of delicious fruity Italian ice and smoothies. http://instagram.com/p/BC_2CICHNxT/

Sweet Mandy B’s is by far the best place in the city to curb your sweet tooth. With everything from confetti cookies to caramel apples to cookie dough cookie sandwiches, this bakery has all of the treats your sugar-crazed eyes could ever hope for. Make sure to stop here at least once (or 10 times) during your time in Chicago.

After you’ve gorged yourself on steak and burgers at Prime & Provisions, make room for the s’mores chocolate ball dessert. Our mouths are watering just thinking about it.

For the best gourmet ice cream cones in the West Loop, stop by Cone Chicago. Cone serves European soft serve ice cream, hand-scooped ice cream sandwiches, and build-your-own sundaes. We suggest ordering ‘The Shamrock’ cone, which is the classic soft serve covered with Lucky Charms. They also have non-dairy daily options for lactose-intolerant dessert lovers.

By now just about everyone is a donut lover, and there’s nothing better than gourmet donuts to go along with your afternoon (or morning) coffee. Stan’s Donuts and Coffee celebrates every holiday and occasion. From Broncos and Panthers Super Bowl donuts to Peeps donuts for Easter and matcha donuts for St. Patrick’s Day, we can’t wait to see what they come up with next. http://instagram.com/p/BDwsv9MvJ50/

Luckily you don’t have to go all the way to Italy this summer to get world-class gelato. Amorino is perfect for those of us who hate making decisions, because here you can combine as many flavors as you want. And it’s a good thing, because with flavors, like organic mandarin stacciatella, mango alfonso d’Inda, and cioccolato Ecuador pure origin, there are way too many delicious flavors to choose just one. Make sure to order your gelato in a cone, because they’ll scoop it into the shape of a flower.

Ice cream donut sandwich. We don’t need to say anything else. You’ll thank us. We promise.

Winner of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars, the founder, Johnny Nicolaides, of Molly’s Cupcakes not only makes drool-worthy cupcakes, but he also gives back to local schools throughout Chicago in honor of Miss Molly, his third-grade teacher. Miss Molly baked cupcakes for the whole class whenever one of her students was celebrating a birthday. Her love for cupcakes inspired Johnny to create his own delectable version. And we are truly grateful, because the Cookie Monster, a cookie dough filled cupcake with a chocolate-chip cookie on top, makes all our chocolate-chip cookie dreams come true. http://instagram.com/p/wm75IEnN4u/

You know those times when all you wanted was to eat all of the cookie dough out of the bowl, but your mom wouldn’t let you, because she lovingly wanted to protect you from salmonella? You were probably willing to take the risk, because we all know cookie dough is better than actual cookies. Cookie Dough Creations has saved us and made our dreams a reality by creating pints of edible cookie dough that are egg-free. They also have cookie dough cookie sandwiches, cookie dough cheesecakes, and cookie dough ice cream, cookie dough brownies, and just about every other cookie dough dessert you could possibly imagine. http://instagram.com/p/0nxpRbHNyu/

If you can’t make it to Momofuku Milk Bar in New York City for cakeball truffles, you can still get the next best thing right here in Chicago at West Town Bakery. With all-natural and organic ingredients, West Town Bakery creates a variety of cakeball flavors, such as vanilla sprinkle, lemon almond, and French toast. They serve breakfast and lunch as well, which will have you dreaming of the deep-fried doughnut breakfast sandwich every Saturday morning. They have vegan and gluten-free options.

With locations in West Loop, Lincoln Park, River North, Streeterville, and The Loop, Glazed and Confused makes sure you can fill your donut craving no matter where you are in the city. The maple bacon long john, red velvet, lemon blueberry old fashioned, and sweet tooth donuts are our favorites. You can also get a donut that says, ‘Happy Birthday,’ which is the perfect way to celebrate whether it’s actually your birthday or not.