The Berger Cookie is undoubtedly Baltimore’s greatest contribution to world confectionery. The product of German immigrants to Baltimore in 1835, it’s also easily the single most decadent cookie we’ve ever had. The ultra-soft cookie layer of each Berger “chocolate creme” is dominated by the rich fudge drapery that tops it. In fact, as soon as you back the plastic from the charmingly vintage packaging, the enticing aroma of fudge beckons.

In addition to packaging that hearkens back to an earlier time, the cookies themselves are suggestive of a bygone era. Unlike other packaged cookies that are uniform in shape and size, Bergers are handmade and hand-frosted. This means each of your Bergers is utterly unique.

That’s because the extra-thick layer of fudge, which is nearly a half an inch at its thickest point (yes, we measured), is applied in an absurdly generous schmear that can barely be contained by the limited surface area of the cookie. As a result, the fudge tends to droop over the cookie in odd formations with distinctive wave patterns–like chocolaty stalagtites. What’s more, the actual amount of fudge can vary dramatically from cookie to cookie.