For those who do get the Cherry Thing-A-Lings shipped, the guideline is simple: Microwave the fritter for about five seconds to get the best taste.
Credit: Submitted Photo
Credit: Submitted Photo
A small town bakery in Indiana
Schmidt Bakery, 125 Batesville Shopping Village, Batesville, Indiana, opened in 1963. It is one of the few full-service bakeries still offering breads, cakes, pies, donuts, Danish pastries and cookies, said Cindy Todd and Ginger Puente, who own the bakery with their sister Kim Atkinson.
Their dad, Clem Schmidt, opened the bakery with the passion to sell donuts in the morning and hoagies and pizza for lunch and dinner. He eventually sold the pizza part of his business, which is now called Pizza Haus, and moved to the bakery to its current location. The bakery continues to supply hoagies and pizza dough to the restaurant.
Since the 1970s, Schmidt Bakery has been known to make Cherry Thing-A-Lings during President’s Day weekend. In the past, the family baked them the Sunday before President’s Day, but because demand is so high they bake the pastries Thursday through Monday.
What is a Cherry Thing-A-Ling?
Cherry Thing-A-Lings are gooey, crispy fritters. The sisters said they take donut mix and add real cherries to it. The dough goes into a proof box, where it rises, and then it’s fried and topped with cherry glaze.
They said their dad found a recipe for Cherry Thing-A-Lings on the back of cherry flavoring they used at the bakery and after tweaking the recipe, he made it their own. The idea of having a cherry-flavored item during President’s Day weekend commemorates the story of George Washington cutting down a cherry tree.
Credit: Submitted Photo
Credit: Submitted Photo
“It’s unique. It’s only once a year,” Todd said. “It’s not something most people have ever tried.”
People who typically do not like cherries tend to like Cherry Thing-A-Lings, Todd said.
Last year, the bakery made 254,880 fritters. This was up from 2023, when the staff made 232,380 fritters.
Where did the hype come from?
“It didn’t get really popular until the ’90s,” Todd said. “We only did maybe 50 dozen, 100 dozen in those days.”
The hype grew when their parents went to a function in nearby Oldenburg, and a reporter from an Ohio TV station was emcee for the event. Schmidt and his wife, Bertie, gave the woman a box of Cherry Thing-A-Lings and she talked about them on the air. “It snowballed from there,” Todd said.
Credit: Submitted Photo
Credit: Submitted Photo
Around the same time, Schmidt Bakery was also featured on the front page of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“I think a lot of it is they’re coming back to a hometown, even if it’s not their hometown, they’re coming to our quaint little town and sometimes they stand in line, sometimes they don’t, but they meet other people while they’re here. They get to explore our small little town and they get a hot donut in the process,” Todd said. “People like a hot donut.”
Preparing for President’s Day weekend
The family calls in extra people to help during those five days of Cherry Thing-A-Ling production, including several who take time off from their regular jobs to be part of this event.
“We run 24 hours a day for those five days,” Todd said. “We don’t stop. We have two 12-hour shifts.”
Even though it’s a whirlwind of a week, the sisters said they enjoy seeing and talking to the people who come back each year for Cherry-Thing-A-Lings. They said it feels good to provide their customers with a product that they get so excited about.
MORE DETAILS
Cherry-Thing-A-Lings will be available in-person 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13 through Monday, Feb 17.
The owners said the best time to come is Thursday before 7 a.m., Sunday before 9 a.m. and sometimes even Monday morning. Lines may be from 15 minutes to three hours long depending on how many people come out.
The bakery is closed through Jan. 11 for maintenance. For more information, visit www.schmidtbakery.com or the bakery’s Facebook page.
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