Chow Down Chicago: Good Eats from the Windy City

Fall means apples, and in Chicago, apples bring to mind apple slices. Apple slices consist of apple filling between two layers of dough topped with sugary icing that is cut into squares and sold by the slice or pan. I didn’t realize apple slices were a Chicago thing until recently when Curious City, my favorite podcast about all things Chicago, did an episode on them. A listener contacted the podcast asking if apple slices are a local dessert and the experts’ answer was a resounding yes. However, you might not see them around as much now as you would have in the past. According to WBEZ, many European groups have some type of apple dessert, but apple slices are purely American Midwestern. The exact origins of apple slices are hard to pin down, but the earliest known recipe for them appeared in a 1945 issue of the  Chicago Daily Tribune . A 1957 article in the same newspaper stated that apple slices were Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley’s favorite dish. The heyday of the pastry’s popularit