Exploring Chicago's Sweet Side

A Biscoff Pocket donut from Stan's Donuts hit the spot and satisfied. 

Chicago is no doubt a food city. This is not a place to be on a diet, especially on vacation. Besides awesome pizza and Italian Beef's, their dessert scene is very notable. You can get anything in Chicago to tame your sweet tooth. Below are four places we visited during our trip. 

Dylan's Candy Bar 

While walking down the Magnificent Mile and heading toward the Hancock Tower to visit the 360 Chicago, we came across Dylan's Candy Bar. This is their new location and its not done, so some of their items weren't available yet. When completed, they'll have shakes, cocktails, and food. But it was still candy heaven and there were two floors of candy. My boys loved walking around and checking everything out. They each selected a small lollipop and I chose a candy bar to take home, a Belgian Milk Chocolate bar with bacon. 

 Nutella Cafe 

The Nutella Cafe in Chicago is the world's first. My sons and I are big fans of Nutella, so we couldn't resist going in. The pastries are on the pricier side and everything feels pretty touristy, but it was still fun to go. We shared a Nutella Croissant and sat at one of the many tables. The cafe was pretty relaxing and its location on Michigan Ave. was convenient and close to the other attractions. 

Garret's Popcorn

Garret's Popcorn is the place to satisfy your popcorn cravings in Chicago. They have so many locations in downtown that its not hard to find one. There was a Garret's two blocks from our hotel, so we stopped in one night before they closed. It was slim pickings, but there was some caramel popcorn and cheddar popcorn left. That's their classic combo, so we chose a large bag of that mixed together. My son and I are the popcorn fans in the family, but we still couldn't finish the bag. I packed the rest in my suitcase and when we flew home, my husband discovered it, and now he's a Garret's fan, too. 

Stan's Donuts 

Stan's Donuts has 9 locations in Chicago and they opened in 2014. I didn't know what to expect, but was blown away by all of the delicious looking selections. The inside was really cute, with donut decorations on the ceiling. I chose several donuts for the four of us to try. I couldn't resist the Cookie Butter one, the Biscoff Pocket. It was filled with cookie butter and also had some on top. The donut was quite big and perfect for sharing. We also had one stuffed with Marshmallow and caramel and covered in chocolate. It was massive and sweet, and so perfect after walking around Chicago for miles. And last, was the Croissant Donut, which was flaky and dense and oh so good. It also had a vanilla cream filling that satisfied, too!