Talk:Chocolate brownie

Pot brownies
I LOVE BROWNIES! The page said:


 * may contain nuts, chips (chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, etc.), or cannabis.

I removed "or cannabis", because this is an atypical ingredient. There is already a whole page about pot brownies, which this page references; I think that that is sufficient coverage of pot brownies.

-- Dominus 17:12, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

I love chocolate bronwies —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.3.65.217 (talk) 23:11, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

There should be some mention of cannabis
I restored the "see also" section. I agree that pot is an atypical ingredient, but the page should contain a link to the Alice B. Toklas brownie article.

Alcohol can be an ingredient in almost anything, but if you are at a party and wish to avoid inadvertently consuming alcohol, you ask about the punch. Similarly, cannabis can be an ingredient in almost anything, but if you are at a party and you wish to avoid consuming cannabis, you ask about the brownies. Dpbsmith (talk) 00:35, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Brownies seem to be a top pick for cannabis. I believe it is worth mentioning, or at least more debate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.107.230.145 (talk) 17:52, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Frosting
You know it's Wikipedia when people bring up obscure, perverse junk like "pot brownies" but no mention is made of the much more common frosted brownie. This would also play into the cookie vs. cake argument - frosting is very common on a cake, but rare on a cookie. Frosted brownies seemed to be very common 30 or 40 years ago, but today one seldom sees them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.50.92.159 (talk) 23:07, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

The brownie is definitely not a cookie and I have doubts over whether it is a cake
I accept promethius' compromise of cake-like, since it is very similar to a cake, but a cookie is a biscuit which requires double baking and as such it definitely is not a cookie since it isn't double baked. It is a shame that wikipedia does not have an article on bked goods classifications since I believe that this is a slice and many people who I have spoken with about this agree.
 * I'm unsure of what you mean by 'double-baked'. When I make cookies, I only bake them once. ~  PH  DrillSergeant ... §  21:10, 27 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I've been trying to find a discription of a brownie. It seems that a brownie is a cake.  One site said that using more eggs gives it a fluffier texture, less gives a denser, chewier product.  this site says they are a cross between cake and cookie.  PrometheusX303 21:28, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I would assume, since brownies form-fit to the pan they are in (instead of being in clumps) and are cut like a cake, that a borwnie would be considered a very dense cake. Like a German Cake. ~  PH  DrillSergeant ... §  00:09, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I have found the main distinction between a cake and biscuit: "Yes, yes, we are only to well aware of the theory that biscuits take up moisture when the go stale becoming limp conversely a cake looses it becoming hard, thus proving the Jaffa Cake to be a cake as its bottom is made of sponge cake as we already know. This is all well and good but has several noticeable exceptions such as the Fig roll and so cannot be relied upon. Better just to say its a cake." - http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/jaffajudgement/ And I am sure that as a brownie gets stale it loses moisture and as such is not a biscuit (this property is often inherited from double baking). I am sure you have to agree that a cookie is closer to a biscuit than a cake. Therefore I conclude that the chocolate brownie is not a cookie. Since I prefer the definition slice, but agree this is perhaps ambiguous, then I recommend the compromise solution cake-slice.
 * I'm pretty sure it was agreed that it was a cake. But I don't know what you mean by "double-baking". When I make brownies, I bake them once. When I make cookies, I bake them once. When I make a cake, I bake it once. I don't get your reference. ~  PH  DrillSergeant ... §  22:18, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I am accepting cake as a compromise, I prefer slice as a definiton. However my point here is that the brownie is definitely not a cookie. I am sorry to have confused PH  DrillSergeant ... §  with my double baking comments, he strike me as the kind of guy who likes to get his food from the raw ingredients to edible as quickly as possible.
 * No, I just like cooking, and I've never heard of double-baking brownies. Pineapple upside-down cake, maybe, but not brownies. ~  PH  DrillSergeant ... §  20:09, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I'll accept that. As long as people realize that brownies are usually denser than regular cake, which makes them acceptable hand food, as opposed to light fluffy cakes which, also sliced, are usually eaten with a fork.  BTW, what IS double-baking?  A.B. might have mentioned it once, but I can't remember.  Prome  theus  -X303-  17:10, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
 * The whole point is that brownies are not baked twice, which is why PH  has not heard of double baking brownies. It is biscuits that are double baked and my point is that the brownie is not a biscuit and I belive coockie to be in the biscuit genus.

LOL an argument about brownies, hilarious, im sorry. 23:42, 19 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I've seen it stated (can't recall where) that the Brownie was created by someone who liked the taste of a fallen cake (usually caused by too high a proportion of sugar to flour) and tried to recreate it in a more manageable form.Saxophobia 01:46, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I think it depends on the brownie. Some are more like cake, and some are fudgier and more like a bar. I personally like the fudgier ones. I agree that a brownie is totally not in the cookie category. GingerGin 05:28, 11 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I guess they're more cake than anything else, but I can't stand it when people make dry, cakey stuff and call it 'brownies'. Proper ones have gotta be nice and soft, y'see, not just like some kind of sponge cake. But yeah i'll go with cake. lol.

Mz.Kiedis 16:18, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Just so you all know, the article on cookie gives brownies as an example of a bar cookie. --Jitterro (talk) 08:50, 1 March 2008 (UTC)


 * My copy of Webster's defines brownie as "a small bar or square of a kind of flat, dense, rich chocolate cake often containing nuts." So perhaps it is both a bar and a cake. Where do cookbooks usually place the recipe, in the cookie section or the cake section? Personally, I would say that a brownie is more like a cake because it is sliced, but it is more like a cookie by the way it is eaten. I think it may not be a "bar cookie," because that is a just cookie recipe that has been formed in a pan and cooked all at once. Isn't it? --Jcbutler (talk) 19:07, 22 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I also agree that a brownie is more closely related to cake. It resembles the taste and texture of a fallen cake, particularly one which has fallen because of too much sugar in the mix. Saxophobia (talk) 23:49, 1 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I like the brownie, and I call it a cake.Read456 (talk) 11:49, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

World Columbian Expo story
That story sounds apocryphal to me. To many famous names and places without citing a source. At any rate it contradicts the Sears Roebuck story earlier in the article. Fishal 04:57, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

best brownie in the world
Let's take a poll! I know this sounds weird, but some of the best brownies I've ever had are just from the bakery section of the grocery store. For anyone in Texas, HEB's bakery section has the best brownies I've tasted for only 79cents each! GingerGin 05:30, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Katie Meredith?
While I'm certainly no expert in brownies, I take exception to this sentence in the article. I'm sure that Katie makes good brownies, but it's completely unquantifiable if hers are the best ever.

White choc Brownies
Sorry it's not really about the actual article, but i thought i'd ask, anyone actually made white chocolate brownies? I've tried using a Nigella recipe but they really didn't work... It may have been the fact there was quite a lot of egg, but they were really gooey even after cooking them for a lot longer, and they'd started to go cakey at the sides, but remaining pretty much liquid in the middle. Does anyone have/know of any good recipes? I'd really like to make these properly, so thought i might just ask you guys... Mz.Kiedis 16:24, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm not familiar with this recipe, but it if they were too gooey in the middle, it might have been that you were using the wrong sized cake tin/baking tray. If the mixture spreads more than an inch deep, it'll go cakey round the edges but never cook in the middle.  Failing that, just take a look at Ms Lawson's arse - it didn't get that shape by eating lighter-than-air fluffy brownies did it?  Maybe hers are just meant to be a bit on the gooey side.  Just a thought.  Traveller palm (talk) 15:30, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Alternative names
In the introduction to the article it says that a chocolate brownie is also known as a "Bangor brownie or Boston brownie." I've never heard of these terms. Are they frequently used? They seem to be unnecessary additions and I think they make the opening sentence more awkward than it needs to be. --Jcbutler (talk) 19:12, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

After some research, I've removed the rarely used alternative names (they are still covered a bit in the history section) and rewrote much of the article with new references. I also put in a new definition, based more on Websters. --Jcbutler (talk) 19:01, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Mildred Schrumpf
Removed this section:


 * According to the 1979 Betty Crocker's Baking Classics cookbook, brownies were accidentally invented by Maine home economist, Mildred Schrumpf when she served a chocolate cake that had collapsed in the oven.

1. Schrumpf wasn't born till 1903. 2. She didn't claim to have invented the brownie; she claimed it was invented by Maine housewives, but her documentation is from 1912. See http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq.html 75.57.112.176 (talk) 05:47, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Name and cooking directions
I understand that this article is named "chocolate brownie" to distinguish the food from other uses of brownie, but shouldn't it be "Brownie (baked goods)" or something like that? Nobody actually calls it a "chocolate brownie." In a food context, brownie means chocolate.

Also, what's with the cooking instructions? Plug for America's Test Kitchen? Since when is Wikipedia a cookbook? 75.57.112.176 (talk) 06:27, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm removing it per WP:NOTHOWTO. Ian.thomson (talk) 12:25, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

--- I was seeking information about the difference between cake style and fudge style brownies. Some words about the recipes certainly seem appropriate, given the cake vs. fudge preference camps. HiTechHiTouch (talk) 03:30, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

File:Chocolatebrownie.JPG to appear as POTD soon
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Chocolatebrownie.JPG will be appearing as picture of the day on August 5, 2017. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2017-08-05. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 08:08, 28 July 2017 (UTC)

Chicago?
The article lists the Chicago origin story as a "legend," but that's sufficient to categorize it as cuisine of Chicago. Elsewhere in the article is a reference to Bangor, Maine as "apocryphal," but brownies are neither categorized as part of Bangor, nor associated with a related WikiProject. I'm trying to understand why a "legend" is considered a more reliable source than an "apocryphal" one.--~TPW 17:12, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

Introduction
Websters does not state that brownies are a cross between a cake and a soft cookie, so I removed both the claim and the reference. I also restored language about classifying brownies as either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density. I think this is an important issue about brownies. ;) Jcbutler (talk) 18:55, 29 August 2017 (UTC)

What is the authors first and last name and when was it published?
I would like to find this out for my science fair project. LilyxxxStar (talk) 04:19, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

Hello LilyxxxStar (talk) 04:20, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

Popular variation
Peanut-butter brownie. Drsruli (talk) 01:02, 27 June 2023 (UTC)