Bangor Brownies

I started to lay out the ingredients for this recipe a couple of days ago, and realized suddenly that I had no idea how chocolate for cooking was sectioned into bars years ago. This 1910 recipe refers to the amount of baking chocolate as "one square" or "two squares." Not ounces. And the 21st century baking chocolate may not use the same "square" as 1910. So I consulted a local historian who also happens to be fluent in baking old recipes, (thanks, Wanda!) and she advised that one square refers to one ounce of chocolate, per Fanny Farmer cookbook. 

I'm quite sure that I'm converted now. I'll never go back. No way. My days of baking brownies from a box are over! It was so simple to bake these brownies. And they turned out beautifully. So much so that I was mighty thankful we had some vanilla ice cream in the freezer to pair with a brownie when it came out of the oven.

I decided to cut the recipe in half, and use my mini pie tins for the batter. It makes exactly two round brownies. And, you'll see from the photo, a round brownie fits quite nicely into our Spode dessert bowls.

The recipe is so old, it does not give a heat for the oven or a cooking time. I baked the brownies at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I know, it seems a long time for two mini pie tins, but it was necessary to have it bake thoroughly. I did keep a very close eye, as I didn't want it to burn. But no worries, they came out just fine!


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