Historic Cooking: Butterscotch Brownies from 1973.

 So, in the intervening years since I have posted here, I have not been completely inactive in real life!  I am still researching California women's clothing, women's costume from other places and time periods, and Italian folk dress; I am also still researching and making historic recipes. One of the projects that I have been cooking for, is the Great Rare Books Bake-Off, which is an informal, friendly competition between the rare books departments of Penn State in the U.S. and Monash University in Australia, where they challenge each other (and their respective U.S. and Australian compatriots) to make the greatest number of historical recipes from their archives of antique cookbooks and recipe books.  

The staff of each university selects a group of historic recipes to introduce each year, and they post them on the competition website, https://sites.psu.edu/greatrarebooksbakeoff/ for everyone to see.  Then, the staff and students of each institution, as well as any other interested people around the world, choose recipes from either school's archive (each year's recipes are added to the collection and can be used in following years), make the recipe as written (as closely as possible), photograph the results, and post them to social media with the hashtags #thegreatrarebooksbakeoff, #bakemonash, and #bakepennstate.  The institution with the greatest number of entries in a given year, wins the competition for that year, which involves mainly bragging rights, and a commemorative vintage pie plate which is passed back and forth between the schools each year, as one or the other wins the bake-off.  It's really fun to see everyone's interpretation of the same set of recipes, and everyone's opinion of the recipe itself, and how they would change it for the future. This year I decided to make Butterscotch Brownies from Penn State's recipe collection: 

Butterscotch Brownies, first attempt.

Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

Butterscotch Brownies

2/3 cup shortening

2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs, well-beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

¾ cup chopped nuts

1 tsp. top milk or cream

1 ½ cup flour

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

Combine in above order.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

--from _A Rare Book Cookbook_, published by Penn. State University, 1973.

I made the recipe exactly as written, except I substituted some “cappuccino” flavored chips for the nuts, since I’m allergic.  It was easy to mix, and only took one mixing bowl, plus one small bowl that I used when I beat the eggs with a fork, which was convenient.  The recipe mixed into a thick batter that fit perfectly in an 8-inch square baking dish; I greased it for extra security in being able to get the brownies out later.  It took 45 minutes to bake, but that could be a function of my oven, which is not full-size.

This was an exercise in nostalgia for me; I absolutely love butterscotch brownies, but I grew up making the Betty Crocker recipe, which contains butter instead of shortening.  As I always do when I make the Betty Crocker recipe, I took the brownies out of the oven when they were slightly underbaked, and let them cool partially before cutting them; I did this so that they could set, but not harden too much to cut easily, and then harden to a chewy texture when completely cooled.  When I first read the recipe, I didn’t know how I would feel about butterscotch brownies that don’t contain any actual butter! I thought that the texture was really nice and chewy, but the flavor was very bland and much too sweet for my taste!  I would definitely substitute butter for the shortening, and add more vanilla if I were to make this recipe again.  

See Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook at #thegreatrarebooksbakeoff for the results!