This is the brownie recipe I grew up with and it’s one of my favorite Fannie Farmer recipes. Any time we had a bake sale as kids, this was the recipe my mom whipped together and sent with us to school. Below is a picture of the brownie recipe in the 1924 edition of Fannie Farmer. You can find the updated recipe and the one I use below. 

The recipe starts off by melting unsweetened bakers chocolate and butter. Be forewarned, while it looks delicious, unsweetened chocolate has a very bitter taste. I made the mistake of sneaking a taste several times as a child. The batter is delicious once you’ve added you’re remaining ingredients and I always sneak a taste before baking them. Once baked, the brownies have a crispy top that breaks away from the gooey goodness below. These aren’t chewy like box brownies, they’re dense, fudgy and intensely chocolaty. 

Brownies

From: The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Yields: 9 brownies

Ingredients

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

6 tablespoons butter

1 ½ cups sugar

3 eggs

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup flour

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

¾ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9×9 baking dish. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs, salt, flour, vanilla and walnuts. Combine well. Spread in the pan and bake for 40 minutes or until dry on top and almost firm to the touch. Set the baking dish on a rack to cool for 15 minutes, then cut the brownies into squares.

Notes

If you do not have a double boiler, you can place a bowl over a pot of simmering water.

If doubling the recipe, use a 9×13 baking dish.