Baking Ammonia Never Tasted This Good

Just as you are settling in with your new found Berger Cookie delights (earlier post), I have more great news from Baltimore. Could it be that Baltimore is the cookie capitol of the world? It very well may be, because it is also the home of Otterbein's Bakery, another Baltimore tradition that began way back in 1881, when Adam Otterbein’s opened the family’s first bakery.

Otterbein's is more than a one trick pony with its own brand of cookies. They offer a variety of thin, crisp delights that all have a home-made taste. They aren't too sweet, with a great crunch and wonderful flavor. I defy you to find anything as good as Otterbeins among the familiar national brands.

Here are some of the wonderful cookies made available in stores throughout Maryland and DC and - thank God - online :

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Lemon Sugar Cookies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ginger Cookies

These are award-winning cookies that have gone head to head - in competition - with Berger Cookies and have beaten them. Don't just take it from me. Read the following review from a worthy food critic:

Excerpt from The Baltimore Sun Paper, May 24, 2006

Chef Shirley Coleman, a chef instructor at the Baltimore International College, says the Otterbein cookies have retained a homemade look and taste. " They look like they were made with love," she says. " It wasn't thrown together" Coleman says she can taste butter as the primary fat in the cookies, instead of shortening. "I could tell someone took a little bit of extra time making them." Chef Faith Kling, another chef instructor at the college, says the key to the thin Otterbein cookie is to bake it just the right amount of time - long enough to let the moisture evaporate and make the cookies crisp without burning them.

Otterbein's uses only the best ingredients in their baking and that can only be confirmed by kowing how "bad" these cookies are for you. A normal serving size is considered 4 Cookies (if you can stop there!. A serving equals 130 calories 40% of which is from fat, which means MARGERINE (not butter), in this case. Moderation folks, but NOT avoidance. LIFE IS TOO SHORT.

The ingredients are simple sugar cookie ingredients; they use margarine instead of butter. The secret ingredient for crispness is baker's ammonia.

Actual company recipes are hard to find, but a few ambitious bakers have tried to duplicate the taste of Otterbein's cookies with some unverified success. Here is one such recipe:

AMMONIA SUGAR COOKIES

2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
3 teaspoons baking ammonia dissolved in 3/4 cup milk
5 cups sifted flour (I use a little more)
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon lemon or vanilla flavoring

Cream shortening, sugar, eggs and milk mixture together.

Add flour, salt and flavoring. Mix, adding more flour if needed, till you have stiff batter.

Roll out on floured board and cut out into desired shapes. Place on lightly greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees F till light brown.

I have no idea if anyone can really do as good a job as Otterbeins, themselves. If you can, let us know. Until then, buy the real thing and enjoy these yummies.