Chocolate brownie
 A homemade chocolate brownie | |
| Type | Square or bar |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United States |
| Region or state | Worldwide |
| Main ingredients | Flour,butter,eggs,chocolate and/or cocoa powder,sugar |
| Variations | Blondie |
A chocolate brownie,or simply a brownie,is a chocolate baked confection. Brownies come in a variety of forms and may be either fudgy or cakey,depending on their density. Brownies often,but not always,have a glossy "skin" on their upper crust. They may also include nuts,frosting,chocolate chips,or other ingredient.A variation made with brown sugar and vanilla rather than chocolate in the batter is called a blond brownie or Blondie.The brownie was developed in the United States at the end of the 19th century and popularized their during the first half of the 20th century.
Brownies are typically eaten by hand,often accompanied by a glass of milk,served warm with ice cream (à la mode),topped with whipped cream,or sprinkled with powdered sugar and fudge. In North America,they are common homemade treats and they are also popular in restaurants,ice cream parlors,and coffeehouses.
History[edit]
One legend about the creation of brownies is that of Bertha Palmer, a prominent Chicago socialite whose husband owned the Palmer House Hotel.[1] In 1939,Palmer asked a pastry chef for a dessert suitable for ladies attending the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.She requested a cake-like confection smaller than a piece of cake that would be included in boxed lunches.[2] The result was the Palmer House Brownie,made of chocolate with walnuts and an apricot glaze. The modern Palmer House Hotel serves a dessert to patrons made from the same recipe.[3] The name was given to the dessert some time after in 1893,but was not used by cook books or journals at the time.[2]
The first-known printed use of the word "brownie" to describe a dessert appeared in the 1869 version of the "Boston Cooking-School Cook Book" by Fanny Farmer,in reference to molasses cakes baked individually in tin molds.[4] However,Farmer's brownies did not contain chocolate.[5]
In 1899,the first-known recipe was published in "Machias Cookbook."They were called "Brownies Food".The recipe appears on page 23 in the cake section of the book.Marie Kelley from Whitewater,Wisconsin,created the recipe.
The earliest-known published recipes for a modern style chocolate brownie appeared in the "Home Cookery"(1904,Laconia,NH),"Service Club Cook Book"(1904,Chicago,IL),The "Boston Globe"(April 2, 1905 p.nbsp;34),[2] and the 1906 edition of Fannie Farmer's cookbook. These recipes produced a relatively mild and cake-like brownie.
By 1907,the brownie was well established in a recognizable form,appearing in "Lowney's Cook Book" by Maria Willet Howard (published by Walter M.Lowney Company,Boston) as an adaption of the Boston Cooking School recipe for a "Bangor Brownie".It added an extra egg and an additional square of chocolate,creating a richer,fudgier dessert.The name "Bangor Brownie" appears to have been derived from the town of Bangor,Maine,wich an aprocryphal story states was the hometown of a housewife who created the original brownie recipe.[4] Maine food educator and columnist Mildred Brown Schrumpf was the main proponent of the theory that brownies were invented in Bangor.[lower-alpha 1] While "The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink" (2007) refuted Schrumpf's premise that "Bangor housewifes" had created the brownie,citing the publication of a brownie recipe in a 1905 Fannie Farmer cookbook,[10] in its second edition,"The Oxford Encyclopedia to American Food and Drink in America" (2013) said it had discovered evidence to support Schrumpf's claim,in the form of several 1904 cookbooks that included a recipe for "Bangor Brownies".[11]
In 2021,the food science journalist and home cookery Youtuber Adam Ragusea conduct a series of experiments to discover why modern brownies tend to form a desirably glossy "skin" on their upper crust.In a video reporting his findings,Ragusea asserted that the "skin" was the result of making a batter of high viscosity,with low levels of moisture and sugar well-dissolved into the mix.[12]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Colby, Terri. "Taste The Palmer House Brownies For A Bit of Chicago History". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-06-09. line feed character in
|title=at position 39 (help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gage 2010.
- ↑ Palmer.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Nibble".
- ↑ {{Cite web|url=https://www.mentalfloss.com%7Clanguage=en%7Caccess-date=2019-12-23}}
- ↑ Clegg 1988.
- ↑ Snow 2003.
- ↑ Holbrook 2005.
- ↑ Sheraton 2015, p. 1202.
- ↑ Smith 2007, p. 71.
- ↑ Smith 2013, p. 220.
- ↑ Ragusea, Adam. "How to give brownies,a smooth glossy top". Youtube. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
Sources[edit]
- Clegg, Jo-Ann (27 February 1988). "Brownie connection just doesn't pan out". The Virginian-Pilot. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help); line feed character in|title=at position 36 (help) - Gage, Mary E. (February 2010). "History of Brownies (Chocolate)". Retrieved 2010-03-13.
- Holbrook, Carolyn (21 June 2005). "Nothing beats a brownie". The Age. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
- Saekel, Karola. "Panel Gives Baking Mixes A High Score". San Francisco Chronicle.
- Sheraton, Mimi (2015). 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life. Workman Publishing. ISBN 978-0761183068. Search this book on
- Snow, Jane (30 April 2003). "Seeking the ultimate brownies". Akron Beacon Journal. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - Smith, Andrew F., ed. (2007). The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. ISBN 978-0199885763. Unknown parameter
|publihser=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) Search this book on - Smith, Andrew F., ed. (2013). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. 2. OUP USA. ISBN 978-0199734962. Search this book on
- "The History of Brownies". The Nibble. Lifestyle Direct. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
- "The Palmer House Hilton Hotel Brownie" (PDF). Palmer House Hilton Hotel. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
