What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than making a batch of gooey, chocolate-y brownies? Tomorrow you have a legit excuse to make them, too—it’s National Brownie Day! One of the best things about brownies (there’s many) is that there are so many variations you can take with them. A chocolate brownie is simple and delicious, but there are so many options to enhance the classic dessert. Whether you top it with ice cream, or bake in your favorite candy, you really can’t go wrong with a fresh-out-of-the-oven brownie.
The first brownie recipe is said to have been created in Chicago, Illinois, and the first reference to the dessert was published in the Sears Roebuck catalog in Chicago in 1898, according to the Palmer House’s website. The hotel says that the brownie recipe was first made in the Palmer House kitchen in the late 19th century to be served at the Columbian Exposition World’s Fair in 1893.
Bertha Palmer, who co-owned the hotel with her husband, allegedly asked Palmer House’s chef “to create a small cake or confection that could be included in boxed lunches for ladies visiting the fair.” The result was a “thick, dense, fudgy chocolate bar, covered in walnuts and a sweet apricot glaze,” according to Institute of Culinary Education. The Palmer House (now part of the Hilton Hotels chain) still serves the brownie, with the very same decades-old recipe!
Today, we eat all kinds of brownies, varying in consistency and flavors. There must be hundreds of different brownie recipes for celebrating National Brownie Day, so get our your internet searching fingertips and find yours! And if you want to be really decadent, throw in a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some chocolate sauce – YUM!
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