Vaccaro's
Several locations including 222 Albemarle St., 410-685-4905.
While the bakery's luscious cannoli with sweet ricotta and milk-chocolate morsels may be its top seller, it also offers an array of outstanding cookies, including pignoli cookies with almond paste and pine nuts, butter sandwich cookies with Nutella and coated with powdered sugar, and a gluten-free croccantini (cocoa powder and almond bites).
Editor's pick: Chocolate biscotti dipped in white chocolate.
Berger Cookies
Found at local stores.
While the bakery plant in Cherry Hill has been passed along to different families through the years, the recipe—a white-cake-like cookie with a layer of chocolate fudge—remains the same, at least, for now. If the FDA approves a ban on trans fat, the texture could change in the future. In the meantime, our hometown favorite can be found in other concoctions like Taharka Brothers's Berger Cookie Ice Cream.
Eddie's of Roland Park
Two locations including 5113 Roland Ave., 410-323-3656.
Eddie's, run by the Cohen family, has long been a go-to grocery for neighborhood types who don't feel like cooking—or baking. The dessert case is filled with cookies in all shapes and sizes, from walnut-filled Russian tea cookies and hazelnut shortbreads to coconut macaroons.
Editor's pick: Sugar cookies in seasonal shapes that taste homemade. Try the pink hearts for Valentine's Day.
Gourmet Again
3713 Old Court Rd., Pikesville, 410-484-9393.
The grocery aggregates cookies from all over the region—from Brooklyn, NY, home of Erica's Rugelach; Gourmet Bakery in Baltimore, which supplies the icebox cookies; and Goldman's Kosher Bakery in Reisterstown, maker of strawberry fingers dipped in chocolate.
Editor's pick: Chocolate moon cookies.
Otterbein's Cookies
Found at local stores.
In 1881, Adam Otterbein, newly arrived from Germany, opened a small bakery in Locust Point. Today, production takes place in Windsor Mill and is run by Adam's great-grandkids. The wafer-thin cookies, packed in the familiar red windowpane paper bag, come in five flavors: sugar, lemon, ginger, oatmeal raisin, and the best-selling chocolate chip.
Editor's pick: Lemon, a great tea cookie.
