The great brownie debate

Brownie lovers seem to be split into two camps: the cake-brownie lovers and the fudge-brownie lovers. Cake brownies are those that most resemble, well, cake. They're fluffy and light. Fudge brownies are more moist and gooey and dense. I fall into both camps since anything with chocolate is my favorite.

Cake brownies typically have more flour in the recipe than fudge brownies. You may also find the cake brownie recipe cooks slightly longer than fudge brownie recipes. One other difference I've noted was that cake brownies sometimes have more baking powder than their fudgy counterparts. Baking powder makes your recipe “puff up” and the result in your recipe will be a more cake-like brownie.

When I lived in New Jersey, a woman I worked with made brownies and they were so wonderful we usually forgot there was work to be done. By lunch time the brownies-crumbs and all- were gone. I came across the recipe she shared with us today and so I'm going to share it with you. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.

Arla's Famous Brownies

4 squares unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350° Grease a 9x13” pan. Melt shortening and unsweetened chocolate squares. Beat (Arla did this by hand with a wooden spoon)together the melted shortening and chocolate and the sugar and eggs. Mix dry ingredients into the above mixture. Mix well. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan and cut into squares.


Tips for brownies