Foodie Finds: Dinkel’s Praline Strudel At Daley Plaza Christkindlmarket

By Melissa Wiley in Food on Dec 3, 2012 7:00PM

Ah, the Christkindlmarket. How we love the red and white striped awnings gaily encircling the Picasso statue at Daley Plaza, each lit from within by elfin European lanterns and hearty German faces flush with glögg. The annual open-air Christkindlmarket lavishes the essence of a twee Bavarian village upon Chicago’s most signature slab of concrete. Arcane German handicrafts as well as brats, beer, mulled wine, weiner schnitzel, sauerkraut, and roasted chestnuts all abound. So where did we make our best purchase at this Alpine winter love fest? From a cuckoo-clock-making vendor fresh from the Black Forest? No, the Dinkel’s Bakery tent, naturally, where we secured our favorite kind of Yule log: the inimitable Dinkel’s praline pecan strudel.

True, we could have made things easier (and slightly cheaper) on ourselves by simply strolling up to the bakery’s Lakeview storefront. But somehow buying possibly the world’s best piece of pastry at the Chriskindlmarket made it that much more prizeworthy, a sign of the season as it were. An unholy confection of toffee and sugared pecans, this is the strudel that small-town Germany misses out on. At $16, the price seems steep. But that's for a whole log, which easily serves 10-12 lip-smacking slices. It’s just one more reason to savor sweet home Chicago, even when dressed up in its best lederhosen.

The Christkindlmarket runs until Dec. 24 in Daley Plaza.