History
The Berger cookie traces to a German baker, George Berger, who brought the recipe to East Baltimore in the 1830s. The modern version is a plain vanilla cookie topped with a famously thick layer of chocolate fudge, the cap deliberately outweighing the base. DeBaufre Bakeries has produced them for decades, and they remain a near-universal Baltimore souvenir, stacked at supermarket checkouts and corner stores across the region.
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Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Dairy, Soy
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 2 cups plain flour
- Half a teaspoon baking powder
- Half a cup butter, softened
- Three-quarter cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- For the fudge: 2 cups chocolate chips, half a cup cream, 2 tablespoons corn syrup, 1 cup icing sugar
Method
- Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the egg and vanilla, then fold in the flour and baking powder.
- Drop tablespoon mounds onto a lined tray and bake at 175C for 10 to 12 minutes, until just set but pale.
- Cool the cookies completely before topping.
- Melt the chocolate with the cream and corn syrup, then beat in the icing sugar until thick and spreadable.
- Spoon a heavy cap of fudge onto each cookie, mounding it higher than the base, and let it set.
Tip from the editors. The fudge cap should be thicker than the cookie; pile it on while just spreadable and let it firm up at room temperature, not in the fridge.
Where to eat berger cookie
Berger cookie in Baltimore
Lexington Market ★ 4.2
Lexington Market gathers cheap counters under one roof, from Faidley's crab cake to lake trout and chicken boxes, the city's oldest market and its best value.
TryCrab cake, lake trout, market stalls
TipGraze the stalls for lake trout, a chicken box or a crab cake; cash speeds the older counters.
More places near Lexington Market
Not on this list, but close by, nearest first. Every one is in our guide with its address, hours and what to order.
- Connie's Chicken and Waffles Street food, under 100 m away
- Faidley's Seafood Seafood, about 100 m away
- Sotto Sopra Italian, about 650 m away
- Dooby's Korean American, about 950 m away
- The Helmand Afghan, about 950 m away
- Hollins Market Market, about 1.3 km away
More cities are in research. Want berger cookie covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.