National Blond Brownies Day - January 22

The blondies are the lighter version of the brownies.

While the brownies got their name from the brown color, the blondies got their name from the light color. The difference between brownies and blondes is created by replacing cocoa with brown sugar.

There are several stories about the invention of the brownies: they were first mentioned in the catalog of the 1897 Sears store chain or in the 1896 Boston cookbook published by Fanny Farmer.

There is a story that states that they were first created by chefs at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago in 1893 in honor of the World's Fair. The owners of the hotel wanted to sell to the ladies who visited the exhibition small and low chocolate cakes that they could eat on a napkin without getting dirty. Another claim states that it happened by mistake, when the cook forgot to add baking powder to a chocolate cake recipe and that is why it came out very low.

No matter who first invented the brownies and how, one thing is indisputable and that is that these are very tasty cookies. January 22nd is today to get to know and cherish their blonde version - the Blondies.

Blondies enrich the flavor with caramel, vanilla or maple sauce and sometimes use white chocolate or nut chips.

Photo source: Instagram 

How to celebrate Blond Brownies Day?

In honor of Blond Brownies Day, make these delicious and easy-to-prepare cookies at home, devour them yourself or invite friends or family to eliminate with you.

A cool recipe for devastating blondies cookies

Ingredients:

1 packet of margarine

2 packets of white chocolate

4 eggs

A cup and a half of puffed flour

A cup and a half of brown or white sugar

Preparation:

Melt a packet of margarine and remove from the heat.

Add the cocoa or 2 packets of chocolate. Stir when it is not on the fire until a uniform texture is obtained and return to the fire. Remove from the heat (the white chocolate does not mix with the margarine but that's fine).

Mix the 4 eggs, the puffed flour and the sugar in a mixer. Add the melted chocolate and mix.

Pour everything into a medium greased pan and bake for about 25 minutes on medium heat (175 degrees).

After removing from the oven sprinkle over powdered sugar.

January 22 is also Answer your cat's questions day and Celebrating life day

National Brownies Day - December 8

National Brownies Day is celebrated on December 8 every year. The brownies are a type of chocolate cake cut into squares, named after their brown color. The chocolate cake from which the brownies are cut is very low and thick, and is often filled with nuts (especially walnuts), chocolate chips or peanut butter.

The homeland of the brownies is the United States and they usually serve them with ice cream or whipped cream.

There is an urban legend that tells that the cookies were accidentally invented by a scattered cook who forgot to add to the chocolate cake he made baking powder. This story has no evidence.

Another version says that the cookies were invented in 1893, during the Chicago World Expo in Chicago at the Palmer House Hotel.

The hotel owner's wife, Bertha Palmer, asked the hotel's pastry chef to make a suitable dessert for the women who attended the show that would be small enough to fit in lunch boxes or low and small that they could eat with a napkin without getting dirty. The result was the Palmer House brownies with walnuts on top and apricot glaze.

Today the modern Palmer House Hotel serves the brownies as a dessert to its guests made from the same recipe and to this day it is one of the hotel's most beloved desserts. The original recipe of the Palmer House.

The brownies were first mentioned by name in the The 1897 Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalog.

1897 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue - page 16 (link)

The brownies have a golden version - the blondies that have a special day on January 22nd.

In 1907 a new recipe for the brownies appeared in the Lowney's Cook Book, by  Maria Willet Howard who adapted the recipe of the Boston School of Cooking for "Bangor's Brownies." She added more egg and more chocolate to the recipe and created a richer dessert. Her recipe is named after the town of Bangor in the state of Maine which was the birthplace of the housewife who claimed to have invented the original recipe of the brownies.

The claim that the housewife from Bangor was the inventor of the brownies was refuted in "The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink" which states that there are cookbooks from 1904 that already included a recipe for brownies identical to Bangor's brownies.

Cool fact - the brownie fairy is a little dwarf that appears in British folklore, who comes home at night and performs household chores if the household members left him a bowl of milk or cream on the fireplace.

How to celebrate National Brownies Day?

There are so many brownie recipes, that it's not a problem to find a recipe for making brownies at any level of preparation and with any ingredient you fancy. Make classic brownies or with crazy ingredients like candies, pretzel chips, salty snacks or whatever you want to try and vary. Give to friends, neighbors or family and do not eliminate everything alone!

Post your brownies photos and recipes on social media with the hashtag #browniesday

December 8 is also Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day