Mom's old fashioned chocolate brownie recipes come straight from her vintage recipe box. Do you love the taste of chocolatey, chewy brownies with bits of walnuts in them? Then you'll really love these! They are always a popular treat at our house!
Whenever Mom needed to quickly bake a tray of chocolate brownies to take to a family get-together, these are the homemade brownies she baked. They always turned out perfect from the oven, and they always tasted super chewy delicious.
Mom's Old Recipe Box (c. 1940s)
I can still recall the beckoning aroma of Mom's freshly baked chocolate brownies filling our old farm kitchen. I badly burned my tongue once because I couldn't wait long enough for them to cool before eating.
Mom's secret to baking the best brownies was to leave them slightly underdone.
Whatever you do, DO NOT over bake them, and they should turn out deliciously soft and chewy every time.
Cream 1/2 cup butter; add 1 cup sugar, mix in 2 eggs beaten slightly, add 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Stir in 2/3 cup sifted flour, add 2 squares bitter chocolate, melted, and 1/2 cup nutmeats.
Use an 8-inch pan lined with wax paper and bake 25 minutes in an oven preheated to 325°F.
Be watchful NOT to over bake; to have them underdone is the delicious secret for making perfect brownies.
1/3 cup shortening or butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 heaping teaspoons cocoa
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Melt shortening, add sugar, then egg. Sift flour, salt, baking powder. Add nuts. Mix ingredients well together.
Put in greased 8-by-8-inch tin. Bake in 375°F oven for 20 minutes, or until done. Ice while still warm.
It's been said that American film star Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003) was quite fond of making this old fashioned chocolate brownie recipe from scratch.
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 cup walnuts, chopped
Pinch of salt
Melt cocoa and butter together in saucepan over medium heat until smooth. Remove saucepan from heat. Whisk in eggs and vanilla flavoring, then add sugar, flour, and chopped walnuts and stir until all is well mixed.
Pour batter into buttered 8x8-inch baking pan. Bake in slow oven (325°F) for about 35 minutes, or until done. Cool completely and cut in squares. The baked brownies should be very sticky moist and gooey so don't over bake.
1 cup walnuts, chopped
4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 cups (12-ounce package) chocolate chips
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
To make this NO BAKE old fashioned chocolate brownie recipe from scratch, combine nuts, graham cracker crumbs, and icing sugar in large mixing bowl. Heat chocolate chips and evaporated milk in small pan over low heat while stirring constantly until smoothly blended.
Remove from heat and add vanilla. Reserve 1/2 cup of the chocolate mixture, then mix remainder with the crumb mixture.
Spread breadcrumb batter mixture evenly in a well-buttered 9-inch square pan. Spread reserved chocolate over top for glaze. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve. Cut into squares or bars.
1/2 cup butter or shortening, 2 cups white sugar, 5 teaspoons cocoa, 1/2 cup milk, pinch of salt.
Put ingredients in pot and boil 5 minutes; then add 2 cups rolled oats and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, or raisins, or coconut; mix, and pour into pan and cool; cut in squares. Excellent brownies for when you're in a hurry and want a variety.
Submitted by Vicki
Melt 6 tablespoons cocoa and 1/2 cup butter. Add 1 cup sugar, 2 beaten eggs, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Spread like fudge in a greased cake pan (8-inches square). Bake for 20 minutes at 325° F. Cut into squares while still hot.
Submitted by Onkar Matharu, UK
Here's the simple list of ingredients for making delicious homemade Brownies:
250 grams (9 ounces) chocolate pieces
240 grams (8 ounces) unsalted butter (diced)
1 cup cane sugar
3 eggs (beaten)
3/4 cup plain wheat flour
1/4 cup self-raising flour
Instructions:
1) Get the diced butter and put it in a saucepan. Put the saucepan on the hob (UK stove element) on low heat.
2) When it starts to melt, add in the chocolate pieces. Stir until all is melted.
3) When it's all melted, turn the heat off. Add the sugar, mix it, add all the flour, and mix, and then add the beaten egg.
4) Mix until slightly thick. Get a tray and put grease-proof paper in it. Put in the brownie mix and put tray in oven for 25 minutes on 170°C (340°F) heat.
5) When made, put brownies in fridge for 30 minutes.
6) Take brownies out of fridge and enjoy!
I loved that Chewy Chocolate Brownie! It was so yummy, and the way you make it, the smell, everything, it makes it yummier. —Milly, USA
Submitted by Bill of Kansas, USA
You will love my Grandma Beulah's homemade brownies. I spent a lot of time up at Grandma and Grandpa's house when I was a kid. They lived just a quarter of a mile from my family's home within easy walking distance.
There were several great climbing trees near their house; and better yet, my Grandma Beulah liked to spoil us kids with her homemade brownies.
Sometimes they had nuts in 'em, from one of the black walnut trees that grew behind the place, and sometimes they didn't. But either way, they were great.
What I mainly liked about her brownies was that there was a thin crust on top, so when I bit in, there was a little crunch to go with the moist insides. —Bill
Ingredients:
2 squares of unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/3 cup of shortening
1 cup white cane sugar
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup black walnut pieces (optional)
Directions:
First, cream the shortening and sugar together. Mix in the beaten egg, then stir in the melted chocolate. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, then mix that into the wet ingredients.
Stir just enough to moisten the dry ingredients, then fold in the walnut pieces.
Pour the batter into an 8 inch square baking pan, and level with the spoon. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in an oven set to 350°F.
Test the brownies with a toothpick — when it comes out clean, they're done.
Bill, thanks for sharing your Grandma Beulah's old fashioned chocolate brownie recipe. I'm a brownie lover from way back.
I can remember as a child, whenever I attended a family get-together or any social event, I would head for the dessert table and look for the chocolate brownies.
I tried your recipe, and THE RESULTS WERE DELICIOUS! —Don
Brownies are a versatile dessert, and you can dress them up in many ways for any occasion. The example shows them generously topped with white vanilla icing and crushed peppermint candy pieces. Don't they look tempting?
After making any of the old fashioned chocolate brownie recipes, you can use Grandma's icing recipes to create a yummy iced topping for your brownies.
Sign Up now for GRANDMA'S DESSERT CLUB and download your FREE PDF COPY of Grandma McIlmoyle's Little Dessert Book. Also receive my regular Bulletin featuring classic recipes and nostalgia.