When it’s February in Chicago and #SummerTimeChi seems oh so far away as you can’t feel your face (when I’m with you, or anyone for that matter)… and you can draw circles with your breath… and you get frostbite for taking your hands out of your pockets to make a phone call…

you strive for #winterbodgoals

I’ve highlighted some of the best desserts in Chicago to help you hit those hard to reach goals.

Two kinds of Hotter Chocolate at Bar Siena’s Bombobar – S’mores and Funfetti. It’s hot and it’s CHOCOLATE and it’s drinkable. It’s actual chocolate. Not your watered down Swiss Miss from the local ice skating rink. And it’s a party in a cup, topped off with a doughnut. Who says you can’t have your doughnut and hot chocolate too?

Giant’s current menu whipped up two items that I crave on a daily basis. The Cajeta Ice Cream is nostalgia on a plate as you bite into a way better version of that strawberry shortcake ice cream snack you used to get when the Good Humor truck swung by your neighborhood in July. The S’morgasboard is all that and a warm chocolate chip cookie. It’s a dreamy mishmash of chocolate, marshmallows, a warm cookie, graham crackers, and it’s even topped with a few mini Oreos. What more could you possibly want?

When you’ve almost hit your winter bod goal and you just need a little something to put you over the edge, go for the chocolate sea salt cookies at Beatrix and/or Summer House Santa Monica.

The butter cake is a Mastro’s staple that’s always there for you alongside a lounge singer and an extra dirty martini. It’s like butta.

Always on my mind and appropriate for both winter and summertime chi, is the ever so refreshing peppermint ice cream with hot fudge at Joe’s Stone Crab. You can’t find any other peppermint ice cream like it – it has the perfect amount of candy cane bits and it never gives you that overpowering menthol flavor. They serve the fudge separately so you can make yourself the perfect bite. Every. Single. Time. Interested in round 2? You better say yes. You’ve got GOALS to hit! Order the key lime pie.

Speaking of pie, you can’t go wrong with Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits. I love them all, but especially the maple bourbon pecan.

There’s just something about Gilt Bar’s brownie topped with mint chocolate chip ice cream. It’s not fancy or innovative and it doesn’t involve cotton candy made table side or gel that tastes like cookie dough. It’s just a good old fashioned brownie ice cream concoction that’s always a hit.

When you’re really working hard on that winter bod and want to go the extra mile, just lie on your couch and order pints of Jeni’s Ice Cream from Postmates.

What desserts do you turn to when it’s too cold to think about your bikini bod?  Share your #winterbodgoals in comments below!