Carol Campbell’s Brownies
My mom was a stellar cook and baker – and you could tell she was proud of it. You could tell by her focus in the kitchen - in her menu planning, in the preparations, and the way she shopped on Thursday marketing day. She just put her head down and did it, tried things, cooked, baked, loaves of bread, fried chicken, canned jams, pickles and more.
You may know that recipe sharing is somewhat of a controversy at times. In “the old days” recipes had the names of the originator on them, and most of the recipes in my mom’s books have them – yet, you’d sometimes find some discrepancies.
A friend at church was known for her brownies, these brownies were a privilege, a reward, and also a very very big secret. They came in an aluminum pan and cut into small diamonds. They were sugary, slightly chewy – caramel-y.
They melted in your mouth.
They were…the very best brownie you have ever tasted.
This became a weird thing between my mom and this church friend for some reason. I mean, this friend probably couldn’t bake a lick of anything else but these brownies, and I suspect that to be the truth. In the back of my remembrances, that would mean that my mom was far superior in the kitchen by being able to put on a sit down dinner party for twelve with her eyes closed.
I’d overhear my mom on the phone saying “I will get my hands on that brownie recipe”.
But Susie never gave up Susie’s brownie recipe.
It was Carol who gave it up. Because guess what? It was Carol’s recipe. And back in the day, Susie stole it from Carol.
So Carol says to my mom one day, “I’ll give you that recipe”.
And she did.
And guess what my mom did? She baked three trays of these things and brought them to the front desk at church with a sign that said “Carol’s Brownies”. They were in the aluminum trays, cut in tiny triangles, and were the best damn thing you’ve ever had, no matter who made them.
It’s hard to remember if Mom and Susie’s friendship was ever repaired after this. I often wonder if something else had happened to make our mom hijack the spotlight and show Susie that a recipe can earn a new name.
Recently my daughter asked if I had any good homemade brownie recipes. I said “Oh boy do I.”
And I dug it up, and we went shopping for the ingredients, right down to the the aluminum pan. I made them yesterday. And I cut them in the diagonal. And they came out exactly as they did 40 years ago.
Author note: I feel I can publish this since both parties have since passed…I wouldn’t have wanted to stir up anything!
