The best vintage brownie recipes have all stood the test of time
The written record tells it a little differently. Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book had a brownie recipe with no chocolate at all, just butter, sugar, molasses and pecans. The first chocolate version on record didn’t show up until 1904, in the Service Club of Chicago’s cookbook, under the name “Bangor Brownies.”
Nobody’s entirely sure where the name itself came from, either — some food historians point to an 1897 Sears, Roebuck catalog that listed elf-shaped candies called “brownies,” others to Palmer Cox’s 1887 children’s book about a band of mischievous little sprites by the same name.
Either way, brownies stayed a scratch-baked, one-bowl kitchen project for decades, right up until the postwar years when General Mills, General Foods and Pillsbury started selling brownie mix in a box. Betty Crocker’s version hit shelves by the mid-1950s, and by 1965 a TV commercial was already promising brownies that were “chocolatey, chewy, candy bar-good.”
These days you can make brownies from scratch or from a box, dense and fudgy or light and cakey, plain or loaded with everything in the pantry, and it’s hard to go wrong either way. Here are 14 of our favorite deliciously retro brownie recipes — from a basic brownie to all kinds of fancier versions — all of which have stood the test of generations.
Here's how to make the famous Hershey's Best Brownies — the classic fudgy recipe with real cocoa, made from scratch. Chewy, moist pudding brownies. If you loved them as a kid, try this recipe! It'll bring back the good old days. Blend sweet chocolate with crunchy nuts, velvety cream cheese, and you'll get classic German chocolate cream cheese brownies! Moist. Delicious. Bake them, and break the plain old brownie habit. This easy 1990s recipe for Baker's one-bowl brownies uses just 7 ingredients: chocolate, butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, eggs, and walnuts. They combine to make a fudgy homemade dessert that's absolutely delicious. Chocolate aficionados, unite! Here's a recipe for Toll House Double Chocolate Brownies, deliciously loaded with real chocolate morsels — a chocolate lover’s dream come true. Looking for some divine dark chocolate decadence? Try this vintage double dark brownie recipe with a delightfully gooey chocolate glaze. You can make 3-layer tri-level brownies with staples like butter or margarine, flour, sugar, rolled oats, and unsweetened chocolate. Get the details here. No matter how good your family brownie recipe is, it will taste even better with a little of this frosting on top to make them into rocky road bar brownies. Create your own masterpiece today, like these delicious almond macaroon brownies, made with fresh, moist coconut and natural almonds. These easy German sweet chocolate brownies are deliciously indulgent, and have a coconut-nut topping! Whether you’re entertaining casually or going the full glamour route, you’ll be pleased with these desserts made with rich, chocolatey brownie mix and crunchy walnuts. The two are a naturally wonderful flavor team because the tender brownies are set off perfectly by the crisp texture and fresh flavor of the walnuts. Here, get two classic recipes that combine two sweet flavors in one treat: chocolate cherry brownies. Try them both ways and figure out which is your favorite! What are Toll House Peanut Butter Golden Brownies? We can tell you that the peanut butter in the batter is delicious with the chocolate frosting on top. This easy recipe for a no-egg chocolate dessert seems like an early variation of the seven-layer bar cookie recipe — which would also usually include coconut and butterscotch chips.
Hershey's Best Brownies: The classic fudgy recipe made with cocoa
Jell-O pudding brownies: Two vintage recipes from the 60s
German chocolate cream cheese brownies
The original Baker's one-bowl brownies recipe (1994)
A deliciously decadent classic double chocolate brownie recipe (1982)
Double dark brownie pie recipe (1987)
Tri-level brownies are triple delicious (1968)
Rocky road bar brownies (1971)
Almond macaroon brownies recipe from 1989
Baker's easy one-bowl German sweet chocolate brownies (1997)
6 chocolaty walnut brownie desserts from the sixties - including a retro ribbon loaf cake
Chocolate cherry brownies recipe & chewy cherry brownies: Two classic recipes
Peanut butter golden brownies with chocolate topping (1979)
Gold Rush brownies recipe (1951)
