Happy National “Have a Brownie” Day!
Readers of Baked Chicago know I have a slight obsession with brownies. Baked Chicago was named in homage to a city known for innovation. One of those innovations is the brownie!
The brownie was created at the Palmer House Hotel (now the Palmer House Hilton) during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (the official shortened name for the World’s Fair: Columbian Exposition, aka The Chicago World’s Fair). Bertha Palmer, wife of hotelier Potter Palmer, asked the hotel’s chef to make a ‘ladies dessert’ that could be easily carried in a boxed lunch at the World’s Fair. The first brownies featured an apricot glaze with walnuts. The Palmer House Hilton still makes brownies according to the original recipe.
I’ve been baking uniquely decadent brownies since high school. In November of 2012, filled with years of “brownie wisdom” and support from readers, I published my first cookbook: Baked Chicago’s Simply Decadent Brownies Cookbook. With over 50,000 copies in circulation, it’s been consistently Amazon’s top-rated chocolate dessert making cookbook since December, 2012, and 100% of all proceeds have gone to the Greater Chicago Food Depository and PAWS Chicago.
Many readers have asked when the next cookbook might arrive and have suggested some great ideas for new decadent brownie recipes. So to honor National “Have a Brownie” Day 2014, I’m running a very special, limited-time contest. Enter by:
- Voting for your favorite brownie recipe from among the most popular in Simply Decadent Brownies Cookbook
- Submitting an idea for a new brownie recipe (in the comments section below) to be featured in the next brownies cookbook, Simply Decadent Brownies, Too
- Subscribing to Baked Chicago email alerts
I’ll randomly select one winner to get a Baked Chicago Simply Decadent Brownies gift package that will include an autographed copy of Baked Chicago’s Simply Decadent Brownies Cookbook and a home-baked batch of brownies (baked by me based on your vote for your favorite recipe) delivered to your door.
What brownies will you be having?