Butterscotch Brownies Recipe 2/3 cup shortening 2 cups brown sugar 2 eggs, well-beaten 1 tsp. vanilla 3/4 cup chopped nuts 1 tsp. top milk or cream 1 1/2 cups flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt Combine in above order. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.
This brownie recipe comes from a compilation of recipes from the staff of the Rare Books room of the Pennsylvania State University in 1973. This recipe for Butterscotch Brownies was submitted by Philip Shelley, former professor of German and Comparative Literature at Penn State, and his partner Robert Bauer. Shelley donated his large collection of mostly German and German-in-translation rare books and manuscripts to the Eberly Family Special Collections Library.
The brownie is a uniquely American dessert. Legends date it back to the late 19th century. Some point to the story of the Chicago socialite, Bertha Palmer, who ended up with the Palmer House Brownie with walnuts and apricot glaze after she asked a pastry chef for a small cake-like confection for a ladies dessert. Others point to Fannie Farmer from Boston who published a recipe in 1896 for a brownie that was to be baked in “small, shallow, fancy cake tins” and which contained molasses and had a nut placed in the center.