Lincoln Park has transformed for Green City Market on a sun-drenched Saturday morning, and there's a line forming at a corner booth, as kids, dogs, and shoppers queue up to make their purchases. It's not kohlrabi they're gunning for (though I wouldn't blame them if they were), but one of Seedling Farms' super-refreshing cider smoothies. More

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Though they normally preside over dry-aged rib eyes, Himalayan salt rocks, and whipped potatoes, it turns out the chefs at David Burke's Primehouse have a pretty serious sweet tooth. Lucky for the general public, they're going to be indulging these sugary impulses every Friday during the summer from 3 to 5 PM from a pop-up ice cream counter. Though it was a brisk—scratch that, chilly—50-something degrees on the first Friday in May, we were there to check out the offerings. More

When was the last time you had carrot cake? Yeah, it had been a while for me, too. But when a friend couldn't stop raving about the "best he's ever had" carrot cake at Julius Meinl, I figured it was worth a bike ride up to the Viennese pâtisserie's newest location in Ravenswood. More

The wacky spring weather Chicago has experienced over the past two months has at least one silvery lining: the arrival of the strawberry sundae ($10) at Nightwood. Pastry chef Matthew Rice jumped at the chance to transform simple berries into his strawberry sundae—an elegant, balanced version of a childhood favorite. More

These days, peanut brittle doesn't get the respect it deserves, relegated as it is to grandmothers' holiday tables and that unappreciated space on the Candy Land board. Zingerman's, I believe, could single-handedly reverse this. More

To really understand the simple allure of the biscotti ($8) at Piccolo Sogno, you have to be there. Really. So for a moment, close your eyes—maybe wait until your boss is out of the room—and put yourself on the restaurant's lush back patio (one of our favorites in the city, obviously). More

Even as the city acclimates to the idea of trendy doughnuts from fine dining vets, a $5 frosted ring of dough is still gutsy. When 2 Sparrows first opened, attention centered on the signature maple-bacon doughnut and foie gras-cherry Pop-Tart, but a new tiramisu-flavored doughnut trumps both of those creations. More

Pan Hellenic Pastry Shop doesn't have all the over-the-top Athenian accoutrements of some of its Greektown neighbors: no blue and white tile motif, no mural of the Parthenon, no flaming cheese served tableside. But what it does have is some of the best baklava in the city, featuring dozens of layers of flaky phyllo that crack and wilt into one syrupy, nutty bite. More

Recently, Jam's been baking up a light and crumbly raspberry coffee cake ($4). The traditional crumb top gives way to an interior that's more reminiscent of a muffin than a coffee cake, with pops of just-tart-enough raspberry to counteract the sweetness. More

Bite into the lemon meringue cupcake at Sweet Sensations, and the gooey meringue quickly mingles with tart, sugary lemon curd. The concentrated citrus flavor puckers your mouth, while the fluffy meringue sticks happily to your lips. More

Anyone who bemoans the lack of serious pastry shops or bakeries in this town will quickly find herself comforted by the pristine, elegant tartes, entremets, and macarons at Vanille Patisserie. The newest addition to the menu, The Eleanor ($6.65), is exactly the type of dessert you'd want on a warm spring day: bright, citrusy, and satisfying without being heavy. More

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Chocolate chip cookies are the hamburgers of the dessert world: Every shop seems to have one on the menu, but a truly great version is hard to come by. A lot of this has to do with personal preference: nuts or no nuts, crispy or soft, dunked or dry. But in my arduous research—arduous, I tell you!—I realized that the best chocolate chip cookies are the ones that keep it simple. More

Lovely's airy, warm cafe may be the best spot for tearing into this slice straightaway. Warm wood and vintage floral prints make the interior look like a Pinterest dream, and some communal seating means there's a potential to meet like-minded dessert fiends. Just be advised that said communal seating could mean you'll have to share a bite of that blueberry almondine. More

It's safe to say that the doughnut is indeed having its moment in Chicago. So when former L2O chef Frances Brennan teamed up with partner Jeff Mahin to open a miniscule, standing room only doughnut operation in The Loop last week, the timing couldn't have been better. Luckily, they deliver on the hype with a balanced, crunchy pistachio-Meyer lemon doughnut. More

Urban Union's pastry chef Mitsu Nozaki has created an elegant homage to the Kit Kat bar. She replicates the flavors and basic texture of the candy bar without crumbling an actual Kit Kat all over the plate. More

A dessert with its own holiday must be pretty special, right? To truly understand why people go so nuts for these pastries, you need to line up outside Delightful Pastries' Jefferson Park storefront, where just inside young women fill cardboard boxes with dozens of the fresh creations, faces streaked with powdered sugar and eyes tired from the early wake-up call. It's part spectacle, part ritual, but that doesn't diminish how tasty these little spheres are. More

Autre Monde's menu has all the requisite ingredients that prove its Mediterranean cred: hummus, octopus, sardines, olives. Oh, and there are chickpeas, just not where you'd expect. The creamy garbanzo beans slide surreptitiously onto the dessert menu. More