A soft, cake-like shortbread base buried under a thick cap of fudge that is heavier than the cookie itself. The Berger cookie is a Baltimore icon, sold through grocery stores across the city.

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.

Where to eat Berger cookie in Baltimore

1 editor pick for Berger cookie in Baltimore, ranked by editorial score. All Baltimore signature dishes · Berger cookie across every city.

  • Lexington Market

    Lexington Market has run downtown since 1782, one of America's oldest public markets, reopened in a new 2022 hall with Faidley's crab cakes at its heart.

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Make it at home

Serves 181 hrIntermediate

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

  1. Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the egg and vanilla, then fold in the flour and baking powder.
  2. Drop tablespoon mounds onto a lined tray and bake at 175C for 10 to 12 minutes, until just set but pale.
  3. Cool the cookies completely before topping.
  4. Melt the chocolate with the cream and corn syrup, then beat in the icing sugar until thick and spreadable.
  5. Spoon a heavy cap of fudge onto each cookie, mounding it higher than the base, and let it set.

Editor tip. 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.

Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Dairy, Soy.