Yesterday evening we had a double celebration: the birthday of one of our dear friends, and the final meeting of the year for our book club.  For the occasion I decided to make some American Brownies. We had a bit of a discussion whether Brownie should be masculine or feminine in Italian.  Because many people equate them with a cookie, it would be masculine (il biscotto), but if you think of it as a dense cake, it would be feminine (la torta). Since I was a Brownie as a young girl (the young Girl Scout troop) I decided there was no discussion. Brownies are OF COURSE feminine.

(Jump to the recipe)

Some history about Brownies

According to legend (read on the Internet, so surely true), Brownies were first developed for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. This fair, also called The World’s Columbian Exhibition, celebrated 400 years since Columbus stumbled upon the “New World”. Remembr “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue; in 1493 Columbus sailed the deep blue sea“. So, it seems 1893 was a good time for this celebration!

The legend says that the owner (actually the owner’s wife) of the Palmer House Hotel created this “Brownie” cake for the exposition that would be portable like a cookie, but soft like a cake.

Brownies today

Today, Brownies are one of the most popular American confections. The most important aspect of Brownies is a soft chocolate center, with a crispy outer layer. I will admit to having purchased some “American Brownies” at the grocery store here in Italy, and thru the entire little tray out after one bite. They were not brownies.  They were a pretty dry chocolate cake. I’m too old to eat unnecessary calories only because I’ve paid for them! It was quite a disappointment.

Thanks for sticking with me this far! It’s been said I can be verbose. So let’s get to the recipe.

But first (again with the verbosity), when we transport a recipe from one location to another (especially to and from the USA) we have to do some translations of ingredients, measurements and temperatures!

Firstly, measurements.  Usually, in the USA, we don’t use a lot of weight measurements, rather most of our recipes are based on volume. It’s true that professional pastry chefs typical use weight measurements for flour, sugar, etc., and a few home baking enthusiasts will measure by weight, but the vast majority of US measurements are in volume measures (2 cups of flour, etc.).  When I created this blog post (first in Italian), I had to redo the recipe by weight.

Let’s continue!

Recipe for American Brownies

Ingredients:

5 TBS or 75 g butter
1-1/2 cups or 250 g sugar
2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract or dark rum *
1/3 cup or 75 ml vegetable oil (I typically use peanut oil, but use whatever vegetable oil you like)
3/4 cup or 75 g unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup or 65 g all purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 TBS cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup or 125 g semi-sweet chocolate chips

* vanilla extract can be difficult to find in some countries. If unavailable, vanilla paste or just a dark liquor like rum, brandy, etc. can be substituted for the vanilla extract.

Baking

1. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C (static) or 160C/325°F (convection). Line a 8 by 8-inch pan with parchment paper
2. Cream the butter with the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract until well mixed.  Sitir in the oil and cocoa powder.
3. With a rubber spatula, stir in the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Spread the brownie batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the brownies are set and a cake tester inserted into the center has moist crumbs attached. Do not overcook. Let cool completely before cutting and serving.

Storage

Brownies can be stored for 3 days in an airtight container,  But it’s a challenge for them to last that long 😉

I hope you will love these Brownies as much as I do! Let me know if you try the recipe e buon appetito! 🍫