Friday, June 7 was National Donut Day.
One day prior was our small town’s funeral paying honor and respect to the man who dedicated his life to the success of his family’s legacy of owning and operating our town’s sweet success bakery of more than 75 years.
Fingerhut Bakery, 119 Lane St. in my hometown of North Judson, is part of the delicious business dynasty of Fingerhut family bakeries, a fixture in the near west suburbs of Chicago since the late 1800s after the Fingerhut family emigrated from Czechoslovakia.
Keith Allan Fingerhut, 88, died Saturday, June 1, surrounded by his family. He was born February 10, 1936, in Chicago to the late Helen (Jacobson) and Joseph Fingerhut. It was on June 1, 1957, at SS. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church in North Judson when he married his high school sweetheart, Janet M. Metzinger, according to his obituary.
Keith, with the help of his two late brothers Ken and Jerry, operated our North Judson town bakery as sixth-generation bakers following the death of their father Joseph in 1954.
The first Fingerhut Bakery was established in 1895 by Frank Fingerhut, with the operations later turned over to his four sons, one of whom was Joseph. Upon arrival in the U.S. in 1894, Frank came with his given last name “Naprstek” and listed his occupation as both a Czechoslovakian tailor and baker.
The last name “Naprstek” means “thimble” in Czech and was translated and changed in the U.S. to the literal meaning “finger hut” — a thimble cover for tailors. In addition to his sewing machine, thread and needles in the packed steamer trunks from “the old country,” Frank also brought favorite recipes, including his grandmother’s rye bread nicknamed “Babi,” which became the most popular signature baked good sold in Chicagoland locations when Frank opted to open a bakery rather than a tailor shop.
In the 1950s, there were four bakeries independently owned and operated by four Fingerhut brothers, including Clem and wife Ann Fingerhut’s original bakery in Cicero, Illinois, as well as brothers Joseph, Charles and Herb, the latter whose son Herb Jr. ran the last of the Chicagoland Fingerhut bakeries until they closed in February 2000.
Keith Fingerhut, sixth-generation baker, is shown with a pan of homemade holiday peanut brittle in his family bakery business kitchen in North Judson in 2011. (Fingerhut Bakery)
Our town’s Fingerhut Bakery, which opened on its current corner location in 1946, continues to be owned and operated by the seventh-generation bakers Greg and Doug of the Fingerhut family, using family recipes more than 100 years old baked daily and displayed in their store counter glass cases to showcase pastry favorites such as hand-decorated tiny Danish butter cookies and kolacky.
Their father Keith is remembered as a businessman baking claim-to-fame graduate from the North Judson High School class of 1954. He participated in multiple clubs and was a star athlete in football, basketball and track. He continued his education at the University of Alabama while playing football, and then completed his college career at St. Joseph College in Rensselaer, earning his business degree and being part of the football team that won the NAIA National Championship (Aluminum Bowl).
He is survived by wife Janet and five children: Julie, Doug (Vicki), Greg (Valerie), Penny, Beth (John) and 13 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, according to his obituary.
Father’s Day weekend is always a busy time at Fingerhut Bakery because of our town’s annual North Judson Mint Festival, established in 1977, and the many guests eager to visit our corner bakery landmark.
Our mint farming neighbor down the road, Debbie Wappel, shared her recipe with me last month for rich and luscious “Mint Melt-A-Way Chocolate Bars,” which are perfect to celebrate Mint Festival weekend or any weekend.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.
Mint Melt-A-Way Chocolate Bars
Makes 16 bars
Cake layer:
1/2 cup margarine
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 can (16 ounces) chocolate syrup
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
Middle green creamy layer:
1/2 cup margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
8 drops peppermint oil extract
2-3 drops green food coloring
Top chocolate layer:
6 tablespoons margarine
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1. To make bottom layer, cream margarine and sugar and add eggs, vanilla, syrup and flour.
2. Pour cake batter into 9-inch-by-13-inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
3. To make middle green creamy layer, in a small bowl, cream together margarine, powdered sugar, milk, peppermint oil and 2-3 drops of food coloring. Spread on cooled cake, refrigerate until firm.
4. To make chocolate topping final layer, melt and blend together margarine and chocolate chips, spread on top of cake, allow to set and chill in refrigerator before serving.
