Chicago Desserts to Eat Before Beach Season Starts

Every year, we think downing green juices in May will result in shorts-ready legs by June. Denial is a hard thing to overcome. Even harder, though, is overcoming those nightly sugar binges and regular chocolate cravings. Although many of you may be trading in cookies for kale over the next few weeks, these desserts around the city are too good to give up just because it's beach season. Maybe that green juice will cancel out the cookie... and the ice cream... and the cake.

S'mores from The Brass Monkey
401 N. Morgan St.
It's hard to find a more quintessential summertime dessert than s'mores. Although the classic Hershey bar and graham usually can't be beat, this dish from The Brass Monkey had us questioning the campfire version. The graham cracker brownie base and toasted marshmallows are elevated even further with the addition of cinnamon ice cream. It's the spicy upgrade you never knew you wanted.

Dark chocolate, sea salt cookie at Beatrix
519 N. Clark St.
Don't be mistaken: These are anything but basic chocolate chip cookies. These are the cookies you'll end up craving all the time, in the middle of the night when Beatrix has long since closed its doors. These cookies, filled with the best-quality dark chocolate chunks and topped with fresh sea salt, are arguably Lettuce Entertain You's (they're also available at Summer House Santa Monica) best dessert to date.

Cookie Dough from Dusek's
1227 W. 18th St.
As a little kid, did you ever eat the premade, refrigerated cookie dough right out of the plastic package? Well, this is nothing like that. It's actually so much better. This deconstructed cookie dough dish features decadent chocolate chips, homemade egg custard ice cream, fresh mint, and cookie powder. It's definitely big enough to share, but take our advice: get your own.

Frosted sugar cookie from Sweet Mandy B's
1208 W. Webster Ave.
The old fashioned bakery counter at Sweet Mandy B's is beautiful and nostalgic. The interior is light and fresh, and there are dozens of desserts on display, ranging from cakes and cookies to puddings and pies. Having tried almost every offering (seriously), I can confidently say that the dessert I come back to again and again is the frosted sugar cookie. You may have to fight the kid in line behind you for the last one, though; they regularly run out of this fan favorite.

Ice cream from Annette's
924 W. Armitage Ave.
I was going to list a few specific flavors of Annette's famous ice cream, but the truth is, every flavor is as good as the next. And much to the dismay of healthy eaters, this hole-in-the-wall (literally, there is no door) is only open for the summer season. Since you only have a few short months to take advantage of their scoops, it's probably best you visit as often as possible.

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