The Great American Bake Sale
Every baker has one — the cookbook that is grease spotted and batter flecked, dog eared, flour dusted, and perhaps has more than one spread of pages honey-glued together. But it’s the book we keep going back to. The one that has the lemon bar recipe we never “adjust.” The chocolate chip cookies better (gasp!) than Mom’s. The peanut butter fudge bars we’re asked to bring to every single potluck we’ve attended since that first time we blithely slapped that plate down and everyone got hooked on the magic.
This book, The Great American Bake Sale by Alison Boteler, is one such book for me. It’s my go-to for chocolate chips, for pecan tassies, and most of all, for the Bangor Big Fat Fudge Brownies featured on p. 37. This is the only, repeat ONLY, brownie recipe I make from scratch. I love it that much. And I don’t touch a thing in it. If I feel like shaking things up, I might add a handful of chocolate chips or a peanut butter streusel, but the recipe itself is golden.
Sadly, this book has a 1991 copyright, which means that if you go into your local bookstore trying to find it, you’ll likely come up empty-handed. On the other hand, you can score a cheap copy on Amazon (I don’t know who’d part with this gem–maybe someone who received an extra copy?). Failing that, check your local library. Yeah, it’s worth it. Try the brownies, you’ll see!
Bangor Big Fat Fudge Brownies
from The Great American Bake Sale by Alison Boteler
- 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
- 1-1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 eggs, slightly beaten
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla in mixing bowl. Beat in eggs. In another bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Blend dry ingredients into egg mixture; do not overbeat. Spread batter into ungreased* 8-inch square pan. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan. Cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar and cut into squares.
Makes 16 brownies
(*Recipe notes: I usually grease the bottom of the pan to make cleanup easier. The best way to cut brownies is to use a plastic knife. Even moist, fudgy brownies like these don’t stick to a plastic knife!)
