Old Fashioned Fudgy Brownies

These are not your average cakey, box-mix brownies. While those brownies have a certain charm, these are a chocoholic’s dream!

I just need to take a moment to rave about these brownies. They are dense, chocolatey, chewy, and rich with a perfect crispy exterior. Arguably the best thing is that they are just as easy as the box-mix variety. I actually made these twice this weekend because…because…okay, you caught me. I only made them twice because I loved them that much and who said brownies aren’t on the pre-wedding diet?

This brownie recipe is from the American Woman’s Cookbook. One of the hardest things about cooking from old cookbooks is figuring out the portioning. Rarely (read: never) do the authors give you directions about how many or how much a certain recipe makes. Does it make 6 or 16 muffins? Do I use an 8×8 or an 8×12 baking dish? This takes a certain amount of trial and error. Mostly error.

I originally made these in regular sized muffin tins and then filled them with salted caramel. If I were to have a do-over, I would use miniature muffin tins because with the caramel, they were super rich!

Fudgy Brownies – American Woman’s Cookbook

2 squares chocolate (unsweetened, baking)

¼ cup shortening

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup flour

½ cup nuts (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Melt chocolate in a double boiler over medium heat. While chocolate is melting, melt shortening.

Add shortening to melted chocolate. Remove from double boiler and add sugar, egg, salt and flour. Add chopped nuts if desired.

Pour into greased loaf pan or individual muffin tins. Press batter down to fill pan. Bake for 20 minutes (15 for the muffin-tin variety) in the pre-heated oven. Ruth, from the American Woman’s Cookbook, cautions, “They will look half baked…” They do look half-baked. I know it’s nerve wracking, but take them out anyways! Trust me.

Ruth suggests marking the brownies off into squares or strips as soon as they come out of the oven. While this is certainly not necessary, it would definitely aid in the cutting process. Whatever you do, don’t try to take them out of the pan while they are still hot! They will crumble and be a big mess.

Double this recipe for a traditional 8×8 baking dish.

Ruth’s instructions say to serve these with tea, but they would be perfect for any occasion!

Salted Caramel recipe at a later date!