9 historic Wisconsin bakeries to add to your bucket list

Treat yourself to cookies, cakes, kringles, and other baked goods at these historic Wisconsin bakeries. 

From kringles and cookies to pies and bread loaves, there’s no shortage of delicious baked goods in Wisconsin. Some of the bakeries that produce these tasty treats have been around for decades and won multiple awards for their homemade goods. 

Whether you have a sweet tooth or prefer a hearty roll with your dinner, these nine historic Wisconsin bakeries have something to satisfy all your cravings. 

1. Manderfield’s Bakery

Appleton East: W3176 Springfield Dr., Appleton

Appleton West: 5100 Michaels Dr., Appleton

Menasha: 811 Plank Rd., Menasha

Manderfield’s Bakery has been in business for decades—it’s currently owned and operated by the third generation of Manderfields. The business was born in the founder’s kitchen in 1934 and has grown to include three storefronts in northeast Wisconsin. 

At Manderfield’s, you’ll find desserts like cakes, cookies, pies, and cheesecakes, as well as an assortment of artisan and classic breads, sweet rolls, and buns. The list of available seasonal treats is lengthy, too. During the holiday season, the bakery has everything from gingerbread and iced cut-out cookies to country stollen and yule logs ready for you to enjoy.

2. Peter Sciortino Bakery

1101 E. Brady Street, Milwaukee

Peter Sciortino Bakery was founded in 1947 by husband and wife Peter and Grace. Fifty years later, they sold the business to three of their employees who started working at the bakery as teenagers. These employees—Maria, Joe, and Luigi Vella—still operate the bakery today and have introduced some new products to the lineup. Speaking of, everything at Peter Sciortino Bakery is made from scratch daily. You can indulge in loaves, rolls, cookies, pastries, and more. There are plenty of Italian classics available, like amaretti cookies, biscotti, cannoli, and tiramisu, plus delights from other parts of the world, such as croissants, eclairs, bonbons, and macaroons. 

3. Hill Top Bakery 

100 E. 7th St., Kaukauna

Hill Top Bakery turned 100 in 2023, and Tony Penterman, mayor of Kaukauna, where the bakery is located, declared October 17 Hill Top Bakery Day to celebrate. 

The bakery is currently owned by Lynn and Mark Engel and was previously owned by Lynn’s parents. Hill Top Bakery is “keeping things old-fashioned while staying up to date on trends” with a mouth-watering selection of donuts, cookies, breads, turnovers, pies, coffee cakes, and cupcakes. The bakery doesn’t skimp on the seasonal treats, either. For the holiday season, Hill Top creates classics like yule logs, Christmas stollen, peanut brittle, Pfeffernüsse, fruitcakes, and honey house kits (similar to a gingerbread house). 

4. Grebe’s Bakery 

5132 W. Lincoln Ave., West Allis

Grebe’s Bakery is also family-owned (currently owned by the fourth generation) and was founded in 1937. The business was born when Irene Ingram’s husband had a stroke that prevented him from working, so she began baking and selling butterhorns and other treats to her local PTA to support her family. Eventually, she opened her first storefront, and her son (along with his son) took over the business when Irene passed away in 1991. 

Grebe’s Bakery is known for its donuts. Some specialty flavors include Butterscotch Vanilla Bismark, Animal Crackers Honeymooner, and Chocolate Cherry Honeymooner. But Grebe’s doesn’t stop at donuts. It also sells other baked goods ranging from cookies and coffee cakes to buns, rolls, and bread loaves. Grebe’s also highlights monthly specials: December items include a Raspberry Thumbprint Honeymooner, a Butterscotch Vanilla Bismark, and Gingerbread Cruller Bites. 

5. Uncle Mike’s Bake Shoppe 

De Pere: 1840 Dickinson Rd., De Pere

Suamico: 2514 Lineville Rd., Suamico

Green Bay: 2999 E. Mason St., Green Bay

Appleton: 3860 W. Wisconsin Ave., Appleton

Uncle Mike’s Bake Shoppe hasn’t been around as long as the other bakeries in this roundup, but since opening in 2001, it’s made quite a name for itself. According to its website, Uncle Mike’s Bake Shoppe has won more than 100 baking awards and was notably crowned champion of the North American Kringle Competition in 2014. More recently, Uncle Mike’s won the Best Donuts and Bakery category of Green Bay Press Gazette’s Best of the Bay competition. 

Owned by a husband and wife duo, Uncle Mike’s Bake Shoppe practices traditional baking methods and serves a vast selection of sweets, including cookies, cupcakes, pies, cakes, donuts, and kringles (traditional Danish pastries often shaped like pretzels, for those who are wondering). Bagels and a variety of breads and buns are also available. 

6. Bendtsen’s Bakery

3200 Washington Ave., Racine 

Bendtsen’s Bakery is also famous for its kringles (thanks to a family recipe that’s been passed down for four generations). Founded in 1934, this bakery is also an award winner. Food & Wine included Bendtsen’s in its roundup of the 100 best bakeries in America, calling it a standout source for kringles. Kringle flavors available at Bendtsen’s include pecan, cherry, apple, cream cheese, almond, blueberry, and apricot.

While known for its traditional kringle, Bendtsen’s also offers a variety of other baked treats such as cookies, cakes, cinnamon rolls, muffins, donuts, elephant ears, and brownies.

7. Bea’s Ho-Made

763 State Hwy. 42, Ellison Bay

Bea’s Ho-Made was also featured on Food & Wine’s list of the country’s best bakeries, thanks to its cherry pie. “Bea’s Ho-Made has been an essential part of the Door County experience for roughly half a century,” Food & Wine wrote. 

Owned by the Landin family, the business started—somewhat by accident—when oldest daughter Linda began selling cherries by the roadside. Eventually, she started selling her grandmother’s famous chopped cherry jam and added other jams and pickled items to her offering as demand grew. 

Now, Bea’s Ho-Made sells about 100 varieties of jams, jellies, pickles, relishes, and sauces, in addition to homemade pies and cookies. 

8. New Glarus Bakery

534 1st St., New Glarus

Located in New Glarus—America’s Little Switzerland—New Glarus Bakery specializes in Swiss and American pastries. Founded in 1910, the bakery proudly uses Old World recipes and high-quality ingredients. In the bakery, you’ll find everything from cheesecakes and coffee cakes to cookies and pastries. 

Signature items include nut horns, holiday stollen, buttercream cakes, and butter cookies, and the bakery’s apple fritters and buttermilk frycakes (old-fashioned cake donuts) are favorites among customers. 

There’s plenty of freshly baked bread, too. Choose from Bavarian and sauerkraut rye, pumpernickel, Swiss hard rolls and pear bread, sourdough, Gipfel (Swiss croissant), and many other varieties. 

9. O&H Danish Bakery

5910 Washington Ave., Racine

O&H Danish Bakery has been serving up sweets to Wisconsinites since 1949. This four-generation family bakery takes great pride in its kringles—which are so in demand that the staff makes more than 10,000 a day. O&H offers a variety of kringle flavors, from pecan and raspberry to cream cheesecake and the seasonal Santa’s Secret Christmas Kringle.  

Other seasonal delights include a Christmas Danish layer cake, a crown cake made with homemade eggnog, a poinsettia layer cake, and a Christmas fudge kringle. 

Coffee cake, sweet rolls, and other baked goods are also available, though, as you might have inferred, kringles are the star of the show at O&H. 

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.