Who Invented Brownies? Origin, History, and First Recipes

When we think of brownies, a dense, fudgy chocolate square that’s become a staple in bakeries and home kitchens across the U.S., we picture gooey edges, a crackly top, and that unmistakable chocolate aroma. But who actually created them? The answer isn’t as simple as one name or one date—it’s a mix of kitchen accidents, cookbook revisions, and American baking culture in the late 1800s. The first brownie recipe, a simple chocolate batter baked in a buttered pan without leavening, appeared in the 1896 edition of the Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. But even that wasn’t the true origin—it was likely adapted from an earlier version that didn’t call itself a "brownie" at all.

Before brownies had a name, they were just chocolate squares. The real breakthrough came when a woman—possibly a Chicago housewife or a cook at the Palmer House Hotel—accidentally left out the baking powder and ended up with a thick, chewy cake instead of a light one. That version stuck. The Palmer House Hotel, a luxury hotel in Chicago, claimed to have created the first brownie in 1893 for a women’s club event, using walnuts and a prune glaze. But the 1896 Fannie Farmer version, with no nuts and no fruit, is what truly spread across the country. It was simple, cheap, and baked in a standard pan—perfect for home bakers. The name "brownie" didn’t catch on until the early 1900s, when it started appearing in cookbooks and newspaper columns as a casual, catchy term for these chocolate squares.

What makes brownies so enduring isn’t just the chocolate—it’s how flexible they are. Whether you like them cakey, fudgy, or somewhere in between, the base recipe stays the same. The brownie history, from its accidental birth to its place in American dessert culture, shows how a simple tweak in the kitchen can become a national obsession. Today, you’ll find brownies with sea salt, peanut butter swirls, even vegan versions—but they all trace back to that same basic idea: melted chocolate, sugar, eggs, and flour, baked until just set.

Below, you’ll find a collection of posts that dig into the details: how to store them so they stay fresh, why cooling them overnight changes the texture, and even how the first recipes compared to what you’re baking today. Whether you’re curious about their roots or just want to make the perfect batch, this is where the story really begins.