Jul 21, 2008

Boston Cooking School Brownies

This recipe for a gooey and rich brownie was originally published in Fannie Merritt Farmer's The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (Little, Brown, 1911). For more about the history of the brownie and three of our favorite brownie recipes, see "Brownie Points".

Credit: Andr� Baranowski

16 tbsp. butter, plus more for greasing
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
1 cup flour

1. Heat oven to 325°. Grease an 8" x 8" baking pan with butter. Line the pan with parchment paper; grease the paper. Set pan aside.

2. Melt butter and chocolate together in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Remove pan from heat and stir in the sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla; stir until the batter is smooth. Add walnuts and flour and stir until incorporated.

3. Pour batter into baking pan and spread evenly. Bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let brownies cool for at least 2 hours. Cut and serve.

MAKES 9 BROWNIES

Ratings & Reviews (9)

by carlastriegel on 2008-08-01

i decided on this recipe over the 3 in the mag because it had twice as much butter, sugar and chocolate as the hepburn brownies. we had them with ice cream tonight and they were given the thumbs up. and they are so rich that no one wanted seconds. i hand-cut walnut halves so they were chunky- nice with the richness of the brownie. oh, and one needs ice cream to "cut the sweet" a bit. yep, they're keepers. now i'm going to try the hepburn's.

by Ermasdaughter on 2010-04-23

Fantastic! I prefer it to the Hepburn brownies by a long shot - but that's because I like rich moist brownies and the recipe certainly delivers!! A wonderful 'hard shell" top that gives a very satisfying "crunch" and inside, pure decadence!

by Ermasdaughter on 2010-04-23

Oh I forgot to mention the one change I made: I added a teaspoon of coarse sea salt which mixed wonderfully with the sweet.

by sugar520 on 2011-02-13

Maybe I did something wrong but these came out uneatable, they oozed butter, but I should have anticipated this with 1/2 pound of butter going into them.

by SCHOENWF on 2011-04-29

This is my new go to brownie recipe. About to make some this evening and think I'll plug in Ermasdaughter's suggestion and add course salt.

by 3Birds on 2011-11-15

Mine also came out oozing butter. I have several good brownie recipes, and this one did have a higher proportion of butter to chocolate and flour than my usual recipes. I do know that melting butter and chocolate at too high a temperature, or for too long, can cause the oil to separate, but I was careful to slowly melt the two over barely simmering water. A waste of good ingredients and time.

by 3Birds on 2011-12-24

I'd like to amend my review (above) to say that, though the butter content was over-the-top for me, my husband loved these and they do have a nice flavor -- deep chocolate and not too sweet. If I could edit or delete my previous review, I'd give this one 3 stars. Review in haste, repent at leisure! Th

by LA.MATHES on 2012-12-09

The recipe in my copy of the b.c.s. cookbook is exactly half the size of this recipe (calling for a 7" square pan) and requires 1/4 C melted butter... That would mean this recipe most likely should read 1/2 C, or around 1 stick. Best, L