A Brief History of the Brownie: A Quintessentially American, Globally Loved, Dessert

Home ArticlesA Brief History of the Brownie: A Quintessentially American, Globally Loved, Dessert

Brownies are a favorite the world over. Here’s a deep dive into their origin, history, name and more, to inspire you to get baking a batch for yourself.

A Brief History of the Brownie: A Quintessentially American, Globally Loved, Dessert

Brownies are a favorite the world over. Here’s a deep dive into their origin, history, name and more, to inspire you to get baking a batch for yourself.

Brownies are varied and, might we say, among the most delicious desserts out there. Simple, yummy and classic, brownies aren't going out of style anytime soon. Every baker has their own recipe and secret tricks to get it right. The brownies are as varied as people’s taste buds. Some prefer fudgy brownies while others like well baked, crisper brownies. Some like choco filled brownies while others like variations like red velvet brownies, cookie and cream brownies or some other iteration. It’s also a tricky dessert to bake since brownies continue cooking even once they’ve been pulled out of the oven. So you've to be careful not to over bake them, especially if you want the gooey experience.

The name brownie comes from the stories of Palmer Cox. in The Brownies: Their Life, Cox writes: “Brownies, like fairies and goblins, are imaginary little spirits, who are supposed to delight in harmless pranks and helpful deeds. They work and sport while weary households sleep, and never allow themselves to be seen by mortal eyes.”

The origin stories and legends around brownies are as varied as the varieties they come in. One story goes that a woman in Bangor, Maine, was baking a cake but forgot to include the baking powder. So instead of rising, her cake came out flat. Instead of discarding it, she cleverly cut it into small squares and served it anyway. Another story states that a chef mistakenly added melted chocolate into the cookie dough they were working with, which resulted in a new dessert. Yet another story suggests that a group of people had plans to bake a cake, but they didn't have enough flour. So instead, they made smaller desserts and the batch was close to brownies.

The most widely accepted origin story for the brownie is that it was invented by the chefs at Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel for the World Columbian Exhibition in 1893. Hotel owner Potter Palmer’s wife Bertha Palmer was the president of a humanitarian organization named Board of Lady Managers. The event organizers had asked her to design a dessert for the ladies attending the exhibition. She conceptualized a dessert and went to the hotel’s pastry chefs. She asked them to create a dessert smaller than a cake and more convenient to eat than a pie slice. What resulted was a dessert that looked like modern brownies, made of chocolate, walnuts and apricot sauce.

The first brownie recipe in printat least the brownie as we recognize it today—appears in Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Boston Cooking School CookBook. This makes it a relatively recent invention and its global, widespread appeal is a testament to its taste. But there was no chocolate in that recipe. Two advertisements were responsible for this. In 1897, a Sears and Roebuck catalog included brownies. And an 1898 issue of the Kansas City Journal mentioned chocolate brownies. In 1906, Fannie came back into the picture, with an updated edition of her cookbook—one was a recipe for a blondie, while the other was for a brownie. Hers and other recipes soon started circulating and traveled throughout the US. Testament to her popularity is this record by Laura Shapiro: “When Fannie Farmer died in 1915, over 360,000 copies of the book had been sold, and it was still coming out regularly in printings of 50,000 each.”

Today, brownies are a global dessert. And creators of brownie mixes and bakers at large are doing all they can to keep the brownie relevant. In keeping with the current health wave that has gripped many, one will find brownies on the market that are low in sugar, high in protein, vegan or gluten free. They also come in a variety of new flavors like caramel brownies, peanut butter brownies, white chocolate brownies or blondies and more.

Here’s a simple chocolate brownie recipe to get you started on a fresh batch of brownies for your own home.