Schlegl's Bakery, one of my faves.

3915 Touhy Ave. Lincolnwood, Il. next to the Long John Silvers

I found a great butter cookie spot!! I love butter cookies, but I absolutely love the turtle butter cookies best. Only problem is, most places/bakeries I get em at, the cookies are usually a little hard, caramel is a bit chewy, and the chocolate is like the chocolate coating they use on ice cream cones. Hard. Which I like, but not on a cookie.
Anyway, I am in an air rifle club, and one of my fellow shooters, who are German, was tellin me one night, that in Germany, everyone learns a trade or skill in school starting when you are a child. So by the time yer an adult, on yer own, and in the real world, you are a master at what you do, and hopefully a professional. She said, this is the best way to teach/raise a child. And I agree, I think that is very smart, kinda wish I was raised in that fashion. But I am not German. She proceeded to tell me that her husband was a baker, trained since he was a child in Germany, and when he came to America he opened a bakery. It became the family business. She said everything that he made there was the best; he baked everyday with love, and years of experience. Experience that he passed down to his son. She said that fortunately her son had an interest/love for baking at an early age, so the father trained him, basically groomed him to take over the business one day, and he did. She said that her baked just as well as his father, and that the tradition and quality of the their product was incomparable; the best.

I know most parents are going to be on their child's side, that's just the way it is. I mean, you could show my mom video footage of me committing a crime, and she'd say it was either a look a like, that I was sleep walking, or that it was a computer generated image of me placed in that situation. But I was raised with these kids who had a straight up German mother from Germany, and I saw her humiliate my friends on multiple occasions when they made mistakes. It’s where I learned, humiliate, intimidate to motivate from. So I have an opinion, be it a blanket opinion, right or wrong, that German parents would not tolerate substandard achievements. So when all the conversation and family praising was done, I knew, I had to go to this bakery.
I now had a mission.

The directions were simple; it's on Touhy, east of Pulaski/Crawford next to the long Long John Silver. Ppppffff, it was exactly like she told me; on Touhy, just east of Pulaski/Crawford, and it was right next to the Long John Silver. But from the outside, it didn't look impressive. I don't mean it looked bad, it’s just with all this talk of history, and tradition, I was expectin an old school lookin bakery; all white, or yellow, with a big old cheesy sign from the 60's. And instead, it was all brown, pretty modern looking, and the name of the place; "Schlegls" was in a weird font on an ugly brown awning. So visually, I was kinda disappointed.

Well, I drove all the way out here, I am going to just go inside and check it out, I thought to myself. I walk inside, and immediately it smelled fantastic. It was small, and everything was tightly set up right in front for you to see immediately. Now it was becoming much more impressive. The baked items look amazing! It’s not a bunch of ridiculous cupcake flavors, or crazy lookin cakes & currie flavored cookies. It’s traditional, old school bakery goods I love; butter cookies, donuts, brownies, coffe cakes, some covered in chocolate. This is a throw back to the stuff I remember loving as a child, where most things are covered in chocolate frosting! And being a good German bakery, they even had plum cake. And then, there they were, my beloved; turtle cookies. Butter cookies topped with a splash of caramel, a sprinkle of pecans, and a dollop of chocolate. All of my favorites in one sweet treat!
There it is, waiting for me, I order two of em, and two butter cookies with chocolate kisses on em. The girl behind the counter puts em in a box and tapes it shut. Tapes it! I said, “Tape, a mild deterrent.” She looked at me and laughed, I wanted to have sex with her. I immediately ripped the tape of in an “I’m insulted” manner, and asked her if she could throw it away for me. She didn’t laugh. I still wanted to sex her.
I am in my car, right in front of the bakery; I cannot wait so I open the box. Right away I begin to get excited, when I remove the top layer of paper from the cookies, it is covered in chocolate. This is a good sign; it means the chocolate is not hard like on an ice cream cone. The chocolate is actually smooth & creamy chocolate frosting, and he pecans are fresh and soft. The caramel, some of the best, smoothest, creamiest, softest caramel I have ever bitten into. And the actually plate in which all of these wonderful treats were delivered on, or you can call it a Butter Cookie, was absolutely, perfectly yhe right texture; not to chewy, not to crunchy, but it had the perfect give, and feel on yer my teeth, and was it buttery. But not to buttery, like if you set in a cardboard box for a few and moved it, it wouldn’t look like you just moved a piece of pizza.
The perfect cookie!
And the butter cookie with chocolate kisses was excellent to, same plate/butter cookie, covered in tiny little chocolate kisses. And the chocolate was delicious/”Monte-licious!” they may be tiny kisses, but boy, that is some smooth, milky chocolate, they are one of a kind.
The German lady from my air rifle club, and her family’s tradition pulled through. The cookies were impressive, and made look inside, I wish I had some sorta family tradition like that, but I don’t. My dad did things I am not at liberty to speak of, and my mom worked in a factory. And I love em both more than anything for doing whatever it took to provide. I just wish we had some tradition is all. We all have stinky feet.