Minnesota Prairie Roots

Bloedow’s Bakery is located at 451 E. Broadway St. in Winona.

I’VE HEARD REPEATEDLY just how fantastic the baked goods are from Bloedow’s Little Bake Shop on Broadway in Winona. But not until recently was I able to taste test and judge for myself.

I know what you’re thinking, bacon on a pastry. But paired with maple icing, it works. The maple long john is Bloedow’s top seller.

Everyone who has ever recommended Bloedow’s to me through the years is 100 percent correct. The bacon-topped, maple-iced long john and peanut butter and jelly filled bismarck my husband purchased were, by far, the best bakery sweet treats I’ve ever devoured. Well, we shared.

Some of the choices inside old-fashioned display cases.

I expect anything I would have tried from Bloedow’s would have rated five-star superior.

For me, it is the tenderness of the pastries that sets these apart from those made at other bakeries. You know what I mean, right? Sometimes long johns, doughnuts and such can be dry and tough. Not here. These are almost melt in your mouth tender.

This is one old-fashioned cozy bakery.

You’ll bite into baked goods created from a family recipe that has been around since Ernest and Mary Bloedow opened their bakery in 1924. If you’ve got a good thing going, why change it? Hugh and Mary Polus now own the bakery.

On weekends a line often winds around the sidewalk at this corner bakery. I’m not surprised. These pastries are worth the wait. They are that good.

© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling