Sweets

How The Christmas Stollen Stole Toni Patisserie & Cafe’s December

Photo: courtesy Toni Patisserie & Cafe

Sweet bread with candied fruit in it. Italians call it panettone, but Germans call it stollen, leading to bad puns throughout the holiday season. You can find it at German-tinged shops like Paulina Meat Market or Gene’s Sausage Shop, but if you want to know what it’s really about, we suggest checking out the version made by Toni’s Patisserie & Cafe downtown. Chef Toni Cox learned to make it from Austrian pastry chef Albert Kumin while he was teaching in New York, and sold it to fans in her original Hinsdale shop for years before she came downtown; between the two shops, last year she cranked out nearly 500 loaves. As Cox describes it, “The bread is full of dried and candied fruits, nuts, rum and almond paste, covered in cinnamon sugar. We discovered once we started sampling that people couldn’t get enough of it.” Call 312-726-2020 to special order yours, or just stop by at 65 E. Washington.

How The Christmas Stollen Stole Toni Patisserie & Cafe’s December