Berger Cookies
{{Short description|German-American cookie}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox food
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| image = BergerCookies.jpg
| image_size = 250px
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| creator = DeBaufre Bakeries
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| type = Cookie
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Berger Cookies are a handmade cookie made and marketed by DeBaufre Bakeries of Baltimore, Maryland. The cookies are widely known for their thick, chocolate frosting on an imperfectly shaped shortbread cookie. Not unlike a black and white cookie,{{cite web
|title = Baltimore Berger Cookies
|website = KingArthurBaking.com
|publisher = King Arthur Baking
|url = https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/baltimore-berger-cookies-recipe}} the Berger Cookie is frosted on its flat bottom, giving the final cookie an overall rounded shape. Each weighs 1.25 ounces, with the cake-like under-cookie weighing a quarter of an ounce, and the chocolate/fudge frosting weighing an ounce.{{cite web
|title = All About Berger Cookies, State Fare's Favorite Snack
|website = Statefaremd.com
|publisher = State Fare Restaurant
|date = October 25, 2019
|url = https://www.statefaremd.com/all-about-baltimores-berger-cookies/}} DeBaufre distributes packaged Berger Cookies via a delivery network around Baltimore and markets the cookies worldwide via internet sales.
The history of the Berger Cookie traces directly to George and Henry Berger, brothers who emigrated from Germany in 1835 to Baltimore, Maryland, bringing their recipe.{{cite news |url=http://www.citypaper.com/bob/story.asp?id=745 |newspaper=Baltimore City Paper |title=Best Of Baltimore: Best Cookie |date=September 13, 2000 |access-date=April 21, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706192250/http://www.citypaper.com/bob/story.asp?id=745 |archive-date=July 6, 2014}} The bakery changed family ownership twice, to become today's DeBaufre Bakeries, which continues to make and market the cookies. As of 2016, the bakery employed 23 people and made roughly a million of the cookies annually, with the cookies comprising about 98 percent of the company's business.{{cite news
|title = Baltimore's iconic sweet treat: Berger cookie traces roots to 1830s
|publisher = United States Army
|newspaper = APG News
|location = Aberdeen Proving Ground
|first = Rachel
|last = Ponder
|date = August 11, 2016
|url = https://apgnews.com/special-focus/baltimores-iconic-sweet-treat-berger-cookie-traces-roots-1830s/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118200610/https://apgnews.com/special-focus/baltimores-iconic-sweet-treat-berger-cookie-traces-roots-1830s/ |archive-date=November 18, 2021}}
Berger Cookies became widely known after they were featured in a 1995 article in The Baltimore Sun, with orders increasing from 300 to 10,000.{{cite web
|title = The Quest to Save Baltimore's Iconic Berger Cookie
|website = Gastro Obscura
|publisher = Atlas Obscura
|first = Priya
|last = Krishna
|date = November 15, 2017
|url = https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/berger-cookie-baltimore-health-regulations}} They won the 2011 "Best of Baltimore Award," the "Best Cookie" award in 2011,{{cite news |last1=Gorelick |first1=Richard |title=Berger cookies rolling out again |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2011/09/15/berger-cookies-rolling-out-again/ |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=September 15, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104214745/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-09-15/entertainment/bal-berger-cookies-rolling-out-20110915_1_berger-cookies-waterview |archive-date=January 4, 2014}} and have been featured on the Rachael Ray show, on The Best Thing I Ever Ate on the Food Network, and on The Talk on CBS. In 2015, Berger Cookies were voted the "Best Local Foodie Product" by Baltimore City Paper readers. In 2021, Whole Foods marketed a copy of the Berger Cookie, as the "Charm City Cookie."{{cite web
|title = Whole Foods Is Selling Their Own "Berger Cookies" & People Aren't Happy
|publisher = WPOC
|work = The Laurie DeYoung Show
|date = March 10, 2021
|url = https://wpoc.iheart.com/featured/the-laurie-deyoung-show/content/2021-03-10-whole-foods-is-selling-their-own-berger-cookies-people-arent-happy/}}
Early history
After emigrating to East Baltimore, Henry Berger operated a bakery, subsequently operated by his son, also Henry. While the younger Henry took over his father's bakery, his two brothers, George and Otto, opened their own bakeries. Around 1900 Otto died, then George and Henry combined the bakeries to create Bergers. Eventually Henry died, leaving George as the sole proprietor of the bakery.
When George retired he sold the bakery and the recipe to Charles E. Russell. Charles' son, Charles Jr., took control upon his father's retirement. Charles Jr. and his sons, Charles III and Dennis, ran the business through the Depression. The Russell's employed two brothers, Charles and Benjamin DeBaufre, and when Charles Russell Jr. retired in 1967, he left the bakery to Charles III and Dennis.
The DeBaufre brothers, Charles and Benjamin had previously worked at Bergers, having left to start their own DeBaufre Bakeries Inc., struggling at first{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.bergercookies.com/history/ |website=Berger Cookies |access-date=November 24, 2021}} but in time able to purchase Berger's from the Russell family in 1969.{{cite news |work=The Baltimore Sun |title=Benjamin F. DeBaufre, 68, supervised production of famed Berger's cookies |date=June 2, 1999 |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1999-06-02-9906020165-story.html |first=Frederick N. |last=Rasmussen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623203015/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1999-06-02-9906020165-story.html |archive-date=June 23, 2021}} Charles' son, Charles DeBaufre Jr., purchased part of the business in 1978. Charles Sr. died in 1988 leaving ownership to Benjamin, Charles Jr., and John Koehler. Charles Jr. became the sole proprietor of DeBaurfre Bakers in 1994 when Benjamin retired, and was running the business as of 2019.
DeBaufre Bakeries
Berger Cookies are now made in a factory in the Cherry Hill neighborhood of Baltimore. As of 2013, four employees dipped a total of around 36,000 cookies daily.{{cite magazine |first=Bonny |last=Wolf |title=The Berger Cookie Is Baltimore's Gift to the Chocolate World |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |date=January 28, 2013 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-berger-cookie-is-baltimores-gift-to-the-chocolate-world-6918029/}} The original recipe that was created by Henry Berger in 1835 is still in use. As of early 2012, the annual sales of DeBaufre Bakeries were about $2.5 million, with Berger Cookies making up 98% of that.
In February 2012, the company offered a limited run of three variants — strawberry, lemon and rum — in response to slow January sales.{{cite news |title=Berger Cookies to roll out limited edition flavors |work=Baltimore Business Journal |first=Jack |last=Lambert |date=February 3, 2012 |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2012/02/03/bergers-cookies-to-roll-out-limited.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205102501/https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2012/02/03/bergers-cookies-to-roll-out-limited.html |archive-date=February 5, 2012}}
The Health Department closed the bakery in January 2013 for operating without the proper license. The bakery subsequently obtained the proper licenses needed and resumed production March 2013.{{cite news |title=Berger Cookies are Coming Back |url=http://www.abc2news.com/news/region/baltimore-city/berger-cookies-are-coming-back |website=ABC 2 News |access-date=June 30, 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141123033726/http://www.abc2news.com/news/region/baltimore-city/berger-cookies-are-coming-back |archive-date=November 23, 2014}}
In 2013, DeBaufre Bakeries was concerned that a forthcoming ban on trans fat could impact the taste of their recipe, given that it used margarine and fudge, containing partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil.{{cite news |last=Kirsten |first=Petersen |title=Baltimore Berger Cookies Could Change or Disappear with Trans Fat Ban |url=https://cnsmaryland.org/2013/11/21/baltimore-berger-cookies-could-change-or-disappear-with-trans-fat-ban/ |access-date=January 4, 2014 |date=November 21, 2013 |agency=Capital News Service}} By 2017 The Baltimore Sun reported that DeBaufre's had successfully adapted the recipe with no apparent impact to its taste.{{cite news |last1=Meehan |first1=Sarah |title=Berger Cookies needed to drop trans fat. Turns out: They already had |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/baltimore-diner-blog/bs-fo-berger-cookies-trans-fat-20171120-story.html |access-date=November 21, 2017 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=November 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171121212226/https://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/baltimore-diner-blog/bs-fo-berger-cookies-trans-fat-20171120-story.html |archive-date=November 21, 2017}}
See also
References
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External links
- [http://www.bergercookies.com The Berger Cookie Official Website]
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Category:Cherry Hill, Baltimore
Category:German-American culture in Baltimore
Category:German-American cuisine