Baltimore is famous for many iconic foods, including blue crabs, Natty Boh and the city’s best cookie ... or cookies.
There are two main cookies unique to Baltimore — Otterbein’s and Berger — and they couldn’t be more different. Otterbein’s is a thin, crispy, eat-the-entire-bag kind of cookie. Bergers, on the other hand, is a fudgy, one-and-done kind of treat.
But which is the Baltimore cookie? We were determined to find out.
A quick cookie history
It all started many, many years ago.
Henry Berger immigrated from Germany and started a bakery in East Baltimore in 1835. After World War I, George Russell bought the bakery from the Berger family, which was then sold in 1969 to the current owner, DeBaufre Bakeries.
Adam Otterbein, another German immigrant, started his business in South Baltimore in 1881. The business is still run by the Otterbein family.
The city’s cookie craze has super-charged desserts: Otterbein’s cookies have been mixed into ice creams, and Berger cookies have been mixed into milkshakes and pies.
In 2013, Maryland Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin and California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer placed a wager on the Super Bowl. The Ravens’ victory meant a feast of California delicacies for the Maryland senators, but had they lost, the California senators would have gotten Maryland favorites, including Berger cookies. The cookies have also been included in winter care packages for seafarers who visit the Port of Baltimore.
Otterbein’s is very Baltimorean, but has a wider reach and competes with other common cookie brands.
The thin, crispy cookie brand started a partnership with Bakery Express, another family-owned bakery, to scale up production earlier this year. This included new packaging that helps the cookies travel well and last longer.
Otterbein’s clearly beats Berger in one category: variety. The thin cookie comes in different flavors, including sugar, chocolate chip, ginger and lemon sugar.
Though the chocolate chip and ginger cookies come in the standard round shape, the sugar and lemon sugar cookies come in stars, hearts, scalloped circle or flower shapes. Also, keep an eye out for the seasonal shapes.
Which is the Baltimore cookie?
To get to the bottom of this, we conducted a very serious (maybe not so scientific) poll at The Banner’s office.
We went around the newsroom offering reporters, editors and other staff pieces of Berger cookies and a choice of chocolate chip, lemon sugar and sugar Otterbein’s.
The results: a tie.
Native Baltimoreans in the newsroom were passionate about Berger being the superior cookie. Some even proclaimed its dominance before sampling pieces of both cookies.
Non-Baltimoreans almost always chose Otterbein’s as the better cookie, much to the dismay of excited locals in the newsroom.
Many who had not had a Berger cookie before commented on its unexpected texture and overly sweet taste. Otterbein’s was definitely a cookie texture and taste people were more familiar with.
“For me, the Berger cookie tasted like a black and white cookie, and it was good until I had the Otterbein’s cookie,” said Nina Giraldo, an intern at The Baltimore Banner who is from Florida. “I thought the Otterbein’s was much more flavorful, and I liked the chocolate chips. Sometimes less is more.”
As for the Baltimore cookie, Berger won by a landslide.
The very overindulgent, “in-your-face” aspect of the cookie that is iconic to Baltimore made the win even sweeter. Around the newsroom, people commented on how this was a cookie unique to Baltimore.
“Berger cookies are as Baltimore as ‘hon,’ or the pink flamingo is for Hampden,” said Uhmar Alston, a native Baltimorean and our newsroom executive assistant.
We are not the only ones to debate which cookie reigns supreme. The subreddit r/Maryland has had an annual post dedicated to the debate.
Most answers focus on the over-the-top fudge aspect of Berger cookies but argue its uniqueness to Baltimore. Some comments say the debate is similar to having to choose between apples and oranges or sunrises and sunsets.
Actress Julie Bowen, a Baltimore native known for her role on “Modern Family,” told the Baltimore Fishbowl in 2011 that her favorite regional delicacy was Berger cookies.
“I always thought you could get those anywhere until I moved away from Baltimore,” said Bowen. “What a horrible realization!”
Craving a treat? Here’s where to get the cookies
These cookies are easy to find in most grocery stores in Baltimore, but can be harder to find anywhere else.
Having trouble finding them at the grocery store? Never fear, online ordering is available.
Berger cookies sold online come in a snack pack, with two of their decadent creations, for $2.99 or the original pack featuring six cookies for $8.99.
The company does not ship cookies out on Fridays, especially during hot weather months to ensure that the cookies arrive fresh and minimize melting.
Otterbein’s offers free shipping. But what you save on shipping, you pay for in the iconic red bags.
Their online store sells cookie bags in a four, six and 12 pack or in a 32 pack of chocolate chip mini bags. The cheapest option, a variety pack of four bags with your choice of flavor, comes out at $39.50.
Trying to set up a Baltimore keepsake? Baltimore in a Box lets you add Otterbein’s and Berger cookies to your order.
Both cookies also offer branded merchandise if you want to go full-on Baltimore-Cookie Monster mode.
Think we got it wrong? Let us know in the comments. We’re more than happy to get another box of cookies to “re-taste test” them.
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