Every city has its own flavors and distinct regional tastes, but Baltimore often doesn’t get a lot of credit in the culinary department despite a long history of many different types of immigrants settling there. These locally-known Berger cookies have hit a sweet spot (so to speak) in the area and when you taste them you will understand why. They are known all over Maryland where they are sold not only in the Berger’s bakery, but also in small shops up and down the state.

The first Berger (or Berger’s) cookies originated with German brothers and bakers George and Henry Berger in the 1830s. We’d have to have a time machine to taste what they were making and selling in Baltimore’s open air markets back then. But, today many recipes for this treat feature a cake-y cookie topped with a thick layer of fudge-like frosting on top.

You want to let the cookies bake only until the bottoms of these vanilla cookies turn golden- no longer. This is so that the cookies are nice and tender.

The frosting relies on melted chocolate so that it can set later on, so you’ll start making this part of the recipe by using a double boiler or ban Marie. This ensures that you can get all the cocoa processed smoothly. I had to beat my frosting with an electric mixer for quite a time before it evened out, so don’t give up if it looks lumpy at first.

After the cookies and frosting have both cooled then you frost the flat side, leaving a black-and-white appearance to these cookies. You can eat them right away, but the frosting becomes even more fudgey if you refrigerate the cookies for a bit before enjoying them. And, they freeze well, too, so you can enjoy these little drops of heaven weeks later, too.