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Fudge Squares
2 egg yolks, well beaten 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup sugar 1/3 cup melted shortening 2 squares chocolate, melted 1/3 cup flour 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup nut meats 2 egg whites, beaten stiff Add salt and sugar to the beaten egg yolks, then shortening and chocolate, melted together. Stir in flour, vanilla and nut meats. Fold in egg whites, beaten stiff. Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F.) for 30 minutes. Cut in squares and remove from pan to cool. Makes twenty 1 inch squares.
A brownie in all but name, lightened with folded egg whites. The batter is small and thick, so pan size and depth matter more than baking time.
- Squares of chocolateA "square" is one ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate, so this calls for 2 oz. Do not substitute semisweet or chips: with a full cup of sugar and only 1/3 cup flour, the sweetness balance depends on the chocolate being bitter.
- ShorteningBy this period shortening usually meant hydrogenated vegetable fat sold in a tin, though lard was still in use. Melted unsalted butter gives better flavour, but it carries water as well as fat, so the result will not be quite identical.
- OvenThe recipe helpfully gives 350F outright. Thirty minutes at that temperature suits a shallow layer; check at 22 minutes, as the flour is too scant to protect against overbaking.
- PanNo pan is specified, and the recipe's stated yield of twenty 1-inch squares implies a small one. An 8-inch square pan, greased and lined, gives a shallow layer that suits a 30-minute bake; a 9-inch pan spreads the batter thinner and will bake somewhat faster.
- Folding the whitesThe whites are what keep this from being dense fudge. Fold them in with a spatula in three additions and stop while a few streaks remain; overmixing at this stage collapses the whole texture.
- CuttingCut while barely warm, then lift the squares out to cool on a rack as directed. Left in the pan to cool through, the bottom steams and the edges harden against the tin.
- YieldTwenty 1-inch squares would be very small mouthfuls from this quantity of batter; an 8-inch pan more naturally divides into sixteen 2-inch squares. Treat the stated size as a rich confection portion rather than a brownie portion.
- Nuts"Nut meats" here would most often have been walnuts or pecans. Toast them first if you want the flavour to carry against the chocolate.