Fannie Farmer's 1906 Brownie recipe

This recipe, from the 1906 edition of "The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book," is believed to be the first for a chocolate brownie in a cookbook. It makes a lower, denser treat than today's thicker, cakelike brownies.

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg, unbeaten
2 squares Baker's chocolate, melted
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup walnut meats, cut in pieces

Mix ingredients in order given. Line a seven-inch square pan with paraffine paper. Spread mixture evenly in pan and bake in slow oven. As soon as taken from oven turn from pan, remove paper, and cut cake in strips, using a sharp knife. If these directions are not followed, paper will cling to cake, and it will be impossible to cut it in shapely pieces.

Bake: 35 minutes
Makes: 16 squares

If you try Farmer's recipe, you should know: "Paraffine" paper is another name for wax paper. The "slow oven" of Farmer's age was the 325-degree oven of the 1965 edition of "The Fannie Farmer Cookbook." Although the original mentions no buttering of the paper, the 1960s recipe calls for buttering the pan, lining the bottom with wax paper, then buttering the wax paper. Though Farmer mentions no baking time, the later recipe calls for baking 30 to 35 minutes, or until the brownies are "dry on top and almost firm to the touch."

We used a 7-inch square baking pan. We lined it with parchment paper, leaving two long ends to lift the brownies out of the pan. Go down to a 6-inch square pan if you can't find a 7-inch.

Bill Daley, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/