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Bangor Brownies
1/2 cup shortening 1 cup sugar 3 squares chocolate 2 eggs 1/2 cup flour 1 cup chopped walnuts 1 teaspoon vanilla Cream shortening and sugar; add melted chocolate, eggs slightly beaten, nuts and flour. Bake in a thin layer, on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes in a moderately hot oven. When done, cut in strips or squares.
A very early brownie formula: no baking powder, no salt, and a high proportion of chocolate to flour. It works, but the pan and the timing need translating.
- Moderately hot ovenRead this as roughly 375-400F. A hotter oven will set the edges before the center has any chance.
- Chocolate squaresThree squares means 3 ounces of unsweetened baking chocolate, the standard 1-ounce square of the period. Do not substitute semisweet at the same weight; with only 1 cup of sugar in the batter the result will be cloying and slack.
- The panA flat cookie sheet will let this batter run. Use a rimmed sheet or, better, an 8-inch square pan lined with parchment, and spread the batter about half an inch deep.
- Ten minutes is for a thin layerAt a genuine quarter-inch on a rimmed sheet, 10 to 12 minutes is right. In an 8-inch square pan expect 20 to 25 minutes. Pull them when the center is still soft under a set top; these have no leavening and will firm considerably as they cool.
- The vanillaVanilla appears in the ingredients but never in the method. Beat it in with the eggs.
- Add saltThe recipe includes no salt at all. If you are using unsalted shortening or butter, a quarter teaspoon of salt makes a marked difference.
- CuttingCut while just warm, not hot and not fully cold. Hot brownies tear; cold ones crack along the edge.
- YieldAbout 16 squares from an 8-inch pan, or two dozen narrow strips from a thin sheet.