History
Otterbein’s Bakery: A Baltimore Tradition
The people of Baltimore have been enjoying Otterbein’s cookies since 1881, when Adam Otterbein arrived from Germany and opened a small bakery near Fort McHenry. Although he made all sorts of traditional German breads and pastries, his thin sugar cookies, cut by hand, were what propelled his modest bakery to success. Otterbein’s cookies became a local favorite as word spread. Visitors in the know began seeking out the delicate cookies.
As the bakery and the family grew, the Otterbeins kept up the tradition. The bakery passed to Adam’s son August, then to his grandson Joseph, who moved it to northeast Baltimore, where locals lined up thirty deep during the holidays to get the delicious cookies they’d grown up loving, hot from the oven.
Today the bakery is run by Adam’s great-grandson, Mark, who spent his teen years competing with other employees to be the fastest cookie-cutter in the bakery. Today Mark, along with his wife Jenny, sister Joan, and brother Paul, has brought Otterbein’s into the twenty-first century with new flavors, a wholesale cookie business, and ONLINE SHIPPING to anywhere in the world.
Whether you’re a homesick Baltimore native or a food lover from far away, we hope your family will enjoy the homemade taste of our family recipes.