What do chocolate brownies and Pearl Lake have in common? Can you believe they both came from the same family? My grandfather, John Kelly Hartt, had an aunt Hannah Kelly who’s daughter-in-law Marie submitted the the first known published “chocolate brownie” recipe to a the Machias Cook Book (1899). That’s Machias, Maine – and that’s the region where John Kelly Hartt’s family lived before he came west. The recipe was titled Brownies Food.
I ordered the cookbook from Amazon and tried making the brownies about 4 years ago. I wrote a blog for my grandkids that I wanted to share here. (Click link below.)
Aunt Hannah’s Famous First Brownies! – Link to brownie post on my travel blog
Apparently, Aunt Hannah and (granddad’s) cousin Olive Kelly also submitted recipes. I was going to take new photos – but I can’t find the book right now. $10 on Amazon for the paperback – so there is that option but I have old photos I will use today.
I think the most challenging part was that cookbooks from 200 years ago didn’t have much info. Just sort of a list of ingredients and go for it. Um . . . they tasted good enough but I can’t otherwise say it was a success despite doing the recipe modifications at the link. (The recipes online now are total overkill with information – so much info you can’t find the ingredient list.)
I was doing a lot of genealogy then and that’s how I found out about this wild connection to chocolate! Actually the https://kitchenhistoric.blogspot.com/2013/12/brownies-food-1899.html helped me put some family pieces together from my Kelly side. The brownies where Serendipity!
It’s interesting to try to picture granddad’s ancestors/family in New England. Reading this makes me want to sit down and eat brownies with Aunt Hanna – I have so many questions for her. I should mention that the Kelly family and the Hartt family had a lot of intermarriages in those generations – second cousins and such – so the last names get confusing! But, that is where John Kelly Hartt got his middle name. And, now I want a brownie.
There is other information on my post – like how the Hartt’s are related to Longfellow. If you read the links on my Aunt Hannah’s Famous First Brownies! you can find out more plus get the recipe modifications.
Subscript – I was contacted by a guy from a place called Bwownies in the UK. He wanted to do an interview – but it sort of fell through. Check out all the kinds of brownies he offers! You gain 20 pounds reading the list.
Pearl Lake State Park History 