Alan Davidson

Brownies

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

brownies rich American chocolate-flavoured squares baked as a single cake, then cut up and eaten as a dessert or snack. The name comes from the deep brown colour.

Although the origin of brownies is not clear, they have been eaten in the USA since the 19th century, first appearing in print in the 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catalog.

Some brownies have an almost fudgelike consistency, while others are more like biscuits. They are generally made of flour, sugar, and cocoa, or unsweetened cooking chocolate, with melted butter, eggs, a little vanilla flavouring, and chopped pecans or walnuts.