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Home › Donut Guides › Best Holiday Donuts & Baked Goods in Chicago
Best Holiday Donuts & Baked Goods in Chicago
Chicago does the holidays right, from century-old bakeries icing Christmas cookies to donut shops rolling out eggnog and gingerbread specials. Here are the festive treats we send friends to, grouped by neighborhood so you can plan your route.
By the Underground Donut Tour team · Updated November 2026
Looking for year-round favorites? See our Best Donut Shops in Chicago guide.
Want to taste the best of Chicago with a guide? See our Chicago food tours.
RIVER NORTH
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Firecakes Donuts
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Firecakes turns its heirloom yeast dough into a full holiday lineup every December. Think creamy eggnog rounds, chocolate peppermint bark cake donuts and powdered sugar sufganiyot packed with jam for Hanukkah. Grab a gift box to share, or keep it for yourself.
Donut Tour Recommends: Eggnog Donut (seasonal)
THE LOOP
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Stan's Donuts & Coffee
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Stan's goes all in on the holidays with a gingerbread old fashioned spiced right into the batter and a chocolate old fashioned crowned with peppermint bark. The Eggnog Le Stan, a flaky croissant donut filled with spiced eggnog cream, is the showstopper. More locations on Rush Street, in Wicker Park and in Hyde Park.
Donut Tour Recommends: Eggnog Le Stan (seasonal)
STREETERVILLE AND THE MAGNIFICENT MILE
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Do-Rite Donuts & Chicken
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Do-Rite's small-batch donuts are a cozy winter pick-me-up, and Hanukkah has brought jelly-filled sufganiyot made the old-school way. Pair a buttermilk old fashioned with a hot coffee after a walk down the glowing Mag Mile.
Donut Tour Recommends: Sufganiyot (Hanukkah, past seasons)
FULTON MARKET AND THE WEST LOOP
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Voodoo Doughnut
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Voodoo's Holiday Half Dozen is wonderfully over the top, from a sugar cookie snowman to a cream cheese stuffed gingerbread doll. The eggnog old fashioned with caramel drizzle is a sleeper hit. It's open late, so a holiday sugar rush is never far away.
Donut Tour Recommends: Gingerbread Doll (seasonal)
FULTON MARKET AND THE WEST LOOP
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Levain Bakery
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Levain's famously thick, gooey cookies go festive with a dark chocolate peppermint version that tastes like a candy cane dipped in fudge. Pick up a limited holiday cookie tin and your gift list just got shorter.
Donut Tour Recommends: Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cookie (seasonal)
WEST TOWN AND WICKER PARK
West Town Bakery
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West Town Bakery bakes a buttery, fruit-studded panettone for the holidays that begs to be sliced thick and toasted. Decorated holiday cookies and seasonal donuts fill the case too, so grab a coffee and stay a while.
Donut Tour Recommends: Panettone (seasonal)
WEST TOWN AND WICKER PARK
● Women-owned
Mindy's Bakery
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Pastry chef Mindy Segal bakes chewy gingersnap molasses cookies that taste like the holidays. Pair one with her rich hot chocolate, a national contest winner and the ultimate cold-weather treat.
Donut Tour Recommends: Gingersnap Molasses Cookie
HUMBOLDT PARK
Roeser's Bakery
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Chicago's oldest family-owned bakery has been turning out Christmas cookies since 1911, and the decorated Christmas tree cookie is the one everyone asks for. Fill a box with old-world varieties for a true taste of a Chicago holiday.
Donut Tour Recommends: Decorated Christmas Tree Cookie
LINCOLN PARK
Sweet Mandy B's
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This retro sweet shop pipes thick, sweet icing onto cut-out cookies shaped like gingerbread men, Christmas trees, candy canes and dreidels. They're nostalgic, colorful and made for a holiday party tray.
Donut Tour Recommends: Holiday Cut-Out Cookies
LINCOLN PARK
Floriole Cafe & Bakery
Floriole brings French pastry finesse to Lincoln Park, and its buche de Noel is a showpiece yule log rolled, frosted and decorated for the holiday table. Order a couple of days ahead and add a few caneles while you're at it.
Donut Tour Recommends: Buche de Noel (order ahead)
ANDERSONVILLE AND RAVENSWOOD
Lost Larson
Lost Larson mills its own grain and bakes Scandinavian treats in the heart of Swedish Andersonville. Cardamom buns keep you warm all winter, and the seasonal semla, a cardamom bun stuffed with almond cream and whipped cream, is worth planning around.
Donut Tour Recommends: Semla (seasonal)
ANDERSONVILLE AND RAVENSWOOD
Lutz Cafe & Pastry Shop
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Lutz has served German-style cakes and pastries on Montrose since 1948, and at Christmas its holiday specialty case is pure old-world charm. A chocolate buche de Noel from here makes the holiday table feel complete.
Donut Tour Recommends: Buche de Noel
ROGERS PARK
● Women-owned ● LGBTQ+ owned
Smack Dab
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Smack Dab's sufganiyot drop is a Rogers Park Hanukkah ritual, with pillowy donuts filled with flavors like black currant curd, apricot peach jam and hazelnut cream. Preorder early, because they go fast.
Donut Tour Recommends: Sufganiyot (Hanukkah)
JEFFERSON PARK
● Women-owned
Delightful Pastries
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This beloved Polish bakery rolls out makowiec at Christmas, a tender sweet bread swirled with rich poppy seed filling. Rum babka and rum balls round out the holiday table, carrying on Polish baking traditions.
Donut Tour Recommends: Makowiec (Poppy Seed Roll)
LITTLE ITALY
Ferrara Bakery
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Ferrara is the place for Italian Christmas cookie trays, led by iced, fig-filled cucidati covered in sprinkles. Honey-glazed struffoli and spiced castagnelle make the case look like a holiday postcard from Sicily.
Donut Tour Recommends: Cucidati (Fig Cookies)
PILSEN
● Latino-owned
Panaderia Nuevo Leon
Every January this Pilsen institution bakes hundreds of roscas de reyes, sweet bread rings jeweled with candied fruit and hiding tiny figurines. The rest of the year, the conchas and pan dulce keep the line moving.
Donut Tour Recommends: Rosca de Reyes (January)
CHINATOWN
Chiu Quon Bakery
Chinatown's classic Cantonese bakery is a go-to for Lunar New Year sweets, from crumbly almond cookies to flaky lotus paste pastries. Grab barbecue pork buns and egg tarts for the walk home.
Donut Tour Recommends: Almond Cookies (Lunar New Year)
GARFIELD RIDGE
Weber's Bakery
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Weber's has baked German-American classics on the Southwest Side since 1930, and gingerbread season is its time to shine. Expect spiced pfeffernusse, gingerbread Santas and gingerbread house kits so you can build your own.
Donut Tour Recommends: Gingerbread Santa
EVANSTON
Bennison's Bakery
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Evanston's bakery since 1938 makes a classic Christmas stollen, dense with fruit and dusted in snowy powdered sugar. Add a gingerbread house kit for an old-world holiday haul.
Donut Tour Recommends: Christmas Stollen
EVANSTON
● Women-owned
Hewn
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Hewn's naturally leavened breads are North Shore legends, and at Hanukkah the bakers have turned out baked raspberry sufganiyot and rich chocolate babka. It's a bread lover's take on the holiday jelly donut.
Donut Tour Recommends: Chocolate Babka
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Chicago Donut FAQ
Are these holiday spots ranked?
No. Every bakery and donut shop here is one we would happily send a friend to, so we list them by neighborhood instead of ranking them.
When can I find these holiday treats?
Most holiday specials show up from late November through New Year's, with sufganiyot around Hanukkah and rosca de reyes in early January. Menus change every season, so check each shop's site or social before you go.
Can I taste some of these on a tour?
Yes. Our Chicago Downtown tour visits Firecakes, Stan's and Do-Rite, and our Fulton Market tour stops at Voodoo Doughnut and Levain Bakery. Lineups can vary by day and season.
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