chocolate brownie

Chocolate brownie

A brownie or chocolate brownie is an American invented dessert or snack food: a semi-flat square or bar, made with chocolate and baked in a sheet pan, something like a dense chocolate cake.^[1]

Brownies' density ranges from fudgy to cake-like. They may feature a variety of toppings and ingredients such as frosting, nuts, cream cheese, and chocolate chips.

Brownies are common lunchbox fare, typically eaten out of hand, and often accompanied by milk or coffee. They are sometimes served warm with ice cream (à la mode) or topped with whipped cream, especially in restaurants. Some specialty outlets offer a "Sizzling Brownie" with a brownie on a hot plate with boiled chocolate.

A similar bar made with brown sugar and no chocolate is called a blondie. They are also baked in a pan in the oven similar to how traditional brownies are baked.

Origins

The brownie's first public appearance was during the 1893 Columbian Exposition. A chef at the Palmer House Hotel^[2] created the confection after Bertha Palmer requested a dessert for ladies attending the fair that would be smaller than a piece of cake, and easily eaten from boxed lunches. These brownies feature an apricot glaze and walnuts, and are still being made at the hotel according to the original recipe.^[3]

The earliest published recipe for a brownie like those of today appeared in the 1906 edition of The Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer. This early recipe produced a relatively mild and cake-like brownie. The name "brownie" first appeared in the 1896 version of the cookbook, but this was in reference to molasses cakes baked individually in tin molds, not true brownies.^[4]

A second recipe appeared in 1907 in Lowney’s Cook Book, by Maria Willet Howard and published by the Walter M. Lowney Company of Boston, Massachusetts. This recipe added an extra egg and an additional square of chocolate to the Boston Cooking School recipe, creating a richer, fudgier brownie. The recipe was named Bangor Brownies, possibly because it was created by a woman in Bangor, Maine.^[4]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brownies

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Brownies

See also

• Blondie
• Hash brownies
• Nanaimo bar

References