Throughout the year, we encourage the residents of each care home to get involved with national celebration days. They offer a chance to connect with people around the country and the opportunity to celebrate some of their favourite activities.
At Hunters Down Care Home, the most recent national day they celebrated was National Brownie Day. The people living at the home thoroughly enjoy baking activities so this was something many wanted to get involved with.
They started by learning some history about the day and some of the myths connected to how brownies were created. These myths included:
- In an accidental mixing of ingredients, a chef added melted chocolate to biscuit dough.
- A forgetful cook left out the flour when mixing the batter.
- When a housewife did not have baking powder, she improvised to create this new treat. The wife decided to serve her guest flattened cakes.
The residents thought the myths were interesting and agreed that adding a twist to recipes can sometimes be very successful.
They also found out the earliest recipes for brownies we are familiar with today are found published in regional cookbooks and newspapers around the turn of the last century. The 1904 Laconia, NH Home Cookery, the 1904 Chicago IL Service Club Cook Book, and 1905 edition of The Boston Globe are three early examples. In 1906, Fannie Merritt Farmer published a brownie recipe in an edition of The Boston Cooking School Cook Book.
Some of the group helped to crack the eggs and pour the batter mix into the trays, whilst others enjoyed watching and sharing baking memories from their past. The smells and techniques from the session helped to bring back many fond moments.
After they had been baked, some people couldn't resist and ate their brownies straightaway. Meanwhile, others decorated theirs with icing sugar to make it look like snow.
Celebrating National Brownie Day filled everyone with joy and their stomachs with some delicious home-made treats!