Make Baltimore’s Iconic Fudge-Topped Cookies With This Actual-Deal Recipe From a Meals Historian

When Henry Berger moved from Germany to Baltimore within the mid-1800s and opened a humble bakery in a metropolis already teeming with German bakeries, breweries, and butcher outlets, he in all probability could not have dreamed that over 150 years later his legacy would stay on via the Berger cookie—a cakey, evenly candy vanilla cookie base with a thick layer of fudgy chocolate frosting perched on high. Though Berger’s bakery was bought and have become DeBaufre Bakeries in 1969, the Berger cookie continues to be bought on the bakery and has a passionate regional following. Copycat “Baltimore-Model” or “Berger-Model” cookies will also be discovered at bakeries and supermarkets all through Baltimore, however for a lot of, solely an actual Berger cookie from DeBaufre Bakeries will do. 

In Baltimore, Berger cookies have reached such iconic standing that they’re not an finish in themselves. They now make their method into different native meals merchandise, such because the Charmery’s Berger Cookies & Cream ice cream and the Baltimore Bomb pie at Dangerously Scrumptious. Like all good hyper-local specialty, Berger cookies elicit some robust opinions. “Berger cookies make me consider my journeys to Lexington Market as a child,” Angel Llewellyn, a lifelong Baltimorean, remembers fondly. “They used to have an entire stall filled with cookies and muffins. I can nonetheless bear in mind the trays filled with treats, stay bands taking part in, and the glow from the entire indicators.”

Whereas Berger cookies have many ardent followers like Llewellyn, there are some haters among the many locals: When Berger Cookies come up in dialog or in Baltimore-centric Fb teams, there are at all times just a few individuals chiming in that they’re “too candy” or “too wealthy.” However for these of us who love the cookies, the sweetness is all a part of the attraction. And whereas there are different bakery and grocery store replicas on the market, nothing else hits fairly the precise notes of a real Berger cookie. I dove into the Berger cookie’s historical past and baked up batch after batch to develop my foolproof copycat recipe under for many who wish to recreate the unique of their dwelling kitchens. Learn on for recommendations on perfecting the sunshine, cakey cookie and dense, candy fudge topping and to get the total recipe.

Historical past of the Berger Cookie

Baltimore’s historical past of German immigration is woven all through town’s culinary panorama, from the ever present shakers of Previous Bay (which originated in Baltimore and was created by German immigrant Gustav Brunn) to the sauerkraut served with Thanksgiving turkey. Germans have had a lingering affect on the native candy tooth as nicely.

“Berger was amongst many German names within the baking enterprise,” says Claire Mullins, former advertising and marketing director for the Baltimore Museum of Business. The museum has an exhibit centering on bakeries, together with Berger. She feels that “nothing says Baltimore fairly just like the fudge icing–topped Berger cookie.”

Mullins factors out that Baltimore was a serious level of entry for immigrants from Europe, who introduced with them the recipes for breads and pastries from throughout Europe. “When baked right here [these breads and pastries] provided a style of dwelling, and small family-owned bakeries helped to form the tradition of Baltimore and its numerous neighborhoods.” 

Francis Beirne devoted a whole chapter of his 400-page 1950 cultural reflection The Amiable Baltimoreans to the phenomenon. “From the times when individuals of German blood first discovered their option to Baltimore they started to play an necessary half in offering foods and drinks to the general public, and so they proceed to predominate within the discipline,” Beirne wrote. An 1884 metropolis listing lists 4 Bergers who have been bakers.

Visually, Berger cookies bear a resemblance to an nearly utterly forgotten pastry often known as Kossuth muffins, a type of chocolate-covered cream puff. Kossuth muffins have been a well-liked specialty in Baltimore bakeries after the Hungarian Revolutionary Lajos Kossuth visited town in 1851. Tales fluctuate on whether or not the muffins have been merely named in Kossuth’s honor or impressed immediately by his description of an analogous pastry. It’s doable that Berger’s bakery tailored Kossuth muffins for longevity and mass manufacturing, ditching the cream filling within the course of.

Many individuals evaluate Berger cookies to chocolate tops or black and white cookies. All three cookies have a candy, tender, cake-like cookie base, however the texture of the Berger cookie topping is extra like a stiff and crystalline fudge than the pourable fondant icing on these different two cookies—and Baltimore has a protracted historical past of fudge. Many Nineteenth-century recipes for fudge go underneath the title “Baltimore Caramels.” By the early 1900s, recipes appeared in regional newspapers for “Baltimore Fudge.”

Ideas for Creating the Excellent Cakey Berger Cookie Base

The cookie a part of a Berger cookie is someplace between cake and a cookie. Listed below are just a few key tricks to getting it excellent.

Skip the yolks. The softer, cake-like texture of Berger cookies had me tempted to depart within the enriching fattiness of an egg yolk, however I discovered in my testing that omitting the yellow yolks creates a satisfyingly white cookie to distinction the darkish fudge. And I used to be nonetheless in a position to obtain the specified tender texture even when simply utilizing egg whites. 

Begin with softened butter. A significant component that may push the cookies too far into the cake zone is utilizing butter that’s too chilly, which causes the dough to tackle an excessive amount of air, rise too excessive, and stay overly tender. So make certain to make use of softened butter that lotions simply within the batter.

Go for evaporated milk. Whereas many cookbook and on-line recipes for Berger-style cookies name for milk and cream, I discovered that the concentrated taste of evaporated milk enhanced each the cookie and the fudge. The nutty caramel notes of evaporated milk pack in taste with out including an excessive amount of moisture or fats. (Evaporated milk additionally makes an look in Maryland’s state dessert, Smith Island Cake, the place it equally enhances each fudge and cake. Its bonus shelf-stability lends itself to island dwelling.)

Be beneficiant with the vanilla. After I separated a Berger cookie from the grocery retailer for inspection, and tasted the cookie alone, with out its fudge topping, I used to be shocked on the vanilla-forward taste of the cookie itself. To imitate this, I embody two teaspoons of vanilla extract in my recipe. For a taste that’s nearer to the true factor, chances are you’ll even go for synthetic vanilla as an alternative of pure vanilla extract.

Perfecting the Berger Cookie’s Fudge Topping

Getting the chocolate topping proper for Berger cookies could be probably the most difficult a part of the recipe. The cookies ought to be coated in a dense fudge layer that’s easy sufficient to unfold simply over every cookie with out tearing the cookie base, however thick sufficient to carry its form. Most significantly, this topping ought to be piled excessive—no less than a strong half-inch thick on high of every cookie, with a little bit of a crystalline texture (that is truly a welcome high quality right here!). In a 2022 article, an worker at Rheb’s, a historic Baltimore chocolatier, referenced an outdated fudge recipe of their assortment. “It’s a hard-grained fudge, not just like the creamy fudge we make,” he stated. Previous Baltimore fudge recipes concerned quite a lot of the very factor that we now keep away from—stirring. The satisfying chew atop a Berger cookie might nicely take heed to this older formulation. Whenever you take a chunk right into a Berger cookie, your enamel marks ought to be clearly outlined in that fudge. 

However making fudge at dwelling could be a little bit of a frightening job. It requires temperature management and actual visible cues so you find yourself with the proper fudgy texture relatively than a hardened sugary mess. I’ve seen copycat Berger cookie recipes that keep away from the problem of constructing fudge fully, and as an alternative name for fast no-cook icings that depend on melted chocolate and powdered sugar. Whereas I perceive the justification for making an attempt to take the shortcut—working with actual fudge may be intimidating—these outcomes constantly fall quick, and simply don’t have the satisfyingly fudgy consistency of an actual Berger cookie proper from the field, which is what I wished. Taking the time to make a thick, dense fudge topping is the easiest way to provide a real Baltimore Berger-style cookie.

The excellent news is that I’ve developed a fudge recipe that’s approachable at dwelling. Endurance, a very good sweet thermometer, and somewhat confidence are all you want to create a fudge topping that can impress a Baltimore native. The important thing to creating this fudge topping at house is to warmth the sugar slowly and evenly, and hold your eye on the thermometer. The temperature for the sugar combination ought to rise to someplace between 235 to 240℉, however it wants to succeed in this temperature slowly, over the course of a strong 15 to twenty minutes. Don’t rush the method, in any other case the sugar is not going to dissolve correctly, and also you’ll be left with a hardened mess. For those who discover the temperature rising too rapidly, decrease the warmth.

For many home made fudge, the objective is to maintain the sugar crystals as small as doable, which often entails ready for it to chill to 120° earlier than stirring something into the combination. However I discovered that I may toss this widespread fudge knowledge apart and stir in my chocolate when the sugar had cooled to round 210°F. This created a fudge that retained a little bit of the crystalline chew that is a trademark of the Berger fudge topping.

The fudge cooks finest in a skinny chrome steel pan that doesn’t retain an excessive amount of warmth. As a lot as I like my enameled forged iron, in my checks it was tougher to cease the warmth from rising too excessive as soon as I reached the required temperature within the forged iron, and far simpler in chrome steel. Including a remaining sprint of Dutch-processed cocoa to the fudge enhances the chocolate taste and ensures the fudge has a pleasant darkish coloration like the true Berger cookie topping. Make sure you use Dutch-processed cocoa powder relatively than pure cocoa powder for a darker coloration and extra mellow chocolate taste.

Assembling the Cookies

As soon as the fudge is made, it’s a little bit of a mad sprint to ice the cookies. I purchase myself a while by turning the warmth on very low to maintain the fudge softened whereas assembling the cookies. If it begins to stiffen, I like to recommend stirring in an occasional splash of water to maintain it shiny and tender sufficient to unfold onto the cookies. In my checks, I discovered that spooning the topping onto my cookies allowed me to dole out these famously beneficiant heaps with much less mess and waste than after I tried to dunk the cookies immediately into the fudge.

My most important departure from the basic Berger cookie is the scale. I went a bit smaller than the true factor, as a result of these cookies went rapidly, and other people wished extra. For those who favor an even bigger cookie, the recipe will nonetheless work in the identical time-frame so long as the batter is unfold out to a fair thickness. 

For these outdoors the area, DeBaufre Bakery will ship their cookies of their common packaging or ornamental tins. For individuals who cannot wait or preferring a private contact, this home made model thrilled my Baltimore-native tasters and had them sharing nostalgic recollections. I believe they are a tempting sufficient deal with to persuade even the Berger naysayers.

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