National Brownie Day

December 8th is National Brownie Day. After a bit of research, I found that this isn’t an actual national holiday. But I think it should be. I love brownies.

Food historians traced the first recorded recipe for a brownie to the 1906 edition of The Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer. It apparently was more like a cake than the brownies that we are familiar with. Then another recipe appeared in 1907 in Lowney’s Cook Book, by Maria Willet Howard. It added an extra egg and an additional square of chocolate, creating a richer, fudgier brownie. It was called Bangor Brownies. Most think it was named this because it was created by a woman in Bangor, Maine. According to the 1979 Betty Crocker’s Baking Classics cookbook, brownies were accidentally invented by Maine home economist, Mildred Schrumpf when she served a chocolate cake that had collapsed in the oven. In another story, it was invented in Chicago by the chef of the Palmer House Hotel during the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

I thought that in celebration of this great day, that I would share my favorite brownie recipe:

• 1/2 C corn syrup
• 1/2 C butter
• 5 oz semisweet chocolate
• 3/4 C sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 C flour
• 1/2 C walnuts

Grease and flour a 9 inch cake pan. In a medium size saucepan, bring the syrup and butter to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Stir until completely melted. Add the sugar, eggs (one at a time), vanilla, flour, and nuts. Stir to mix all ingredients. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

The tip that I found on many cooking sites suggests that to make really good brownies is to make sure you don’t over cook and to remove them from the oven immediately to cool. This help enhance the chocolate flavor.

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