The Unique History of Brownies

 I am known at work for my brownies.  I've never been one to make cookies but brownies, ohh yes, I love making them for events.  That is my contribution to potlucks and other things.  My mother was not much of a baker.  In fact, she wasn't much of a cook.  My father was the one who did more cooking.

I love brownies that are gooey and filled with deep chocolate that explodes in your mouth with each bite.  I never worry if there are nuts because they are a side note but add in some cheesecake and I'm in heaven.

It appears the brownie was born in America rather than coming over from another country.  There are several "stories" circulating about its origin.  One story says brownies were born when a chef accidentally added chocolate to his biscuits while another claimed a cook who didn't have enough flour went ahead and baked it anyway.  The third story says a housewife in Bangor Maine forgot to add baking powder to her chocolate cake, so it didn't rise.  She went ahead and served it

One of the more accepted stories says the wife of the owner of The Palmer House in Chicago was asked to create a dessert for boxed lunches at the Woman's Pavillion found at the 1893 World's Fair.  It's said she asked her chef's to make a dessert that was easier to eat than a pie but smaller than a cake.  They topped the fudge dessert with walnuts and apricots and it is still served today.

In 1897, Fannie Farmer adapted one of her cookie recipes to be baked in a rectangular pan but it did not contain chocolate.  It was basically a recipe for what we call "Blond Brownies" today.  The first recipe for "brownies, appeared in a Sears and Roebuck catalogue the same year.  It was listed under Fancy Crackers but it appears they were actually made of  molasses and was actually a blond brownie.

The first reference to chocolate and brownies in the same sentence appeared in "The Kansas City Journal" in 1898 which contained an advertisement for Chocolate Brownies but the first real recipe for chocolate brownies appeared in a cookbook in 1899.  The recipe had chocolate, flour, milk, and baking powder.  One reason for this change from Blond Brownies to Chocolate based Brownies was the decreased cost of chocolate itself.

The next recipe appeared in a 1904 Cookbook but it was called "The Bangor Brownie".  Even Fannie Farmer printed both a blond brownie and a  chocolate brownie in her 1906 edition of her Cookbook.  Through all the years, no one is sure how the name came about.  Some believe its because the desert is a dark chocolate brown, while other claim its based on the name of a book on Brownies.

It wasn't until the 1920's that brownies took off and became a part of the American Culture.  By this point, chocolate was much more affordable for people and was easier to obtain.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  I love brownies so much that I do not keep the ingredients around otherwise I'd eat them daily.  Keep your eyes for a future entry on flavors of brownies.