Acme Brownies are a back to school treat

Acme Brownies are great for kids to bake and eat as an after school snack.  These are a real back to school brownie treat. My sister used to bake these brownies for a deli in town called Acme Deli.  We looked it up in the dictionary, and the word “acme” means “the point at which something is the best.”  These simply are the best homemade, from-scratch brownies. The proof is in the brownie!

The basis for this recipe is from our favorite retro kids’ cookbook, Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls published in 1975 by General Mills.  This cookbook is so retro 1970s. The kids pictured in the cookbook have classic clothes and hair, and the recipes in the book are quirky. Check it out here.

My sister and I received this cookbook as a Christmas present most likely in 1976.  We went on a baking extravaganza. We were transfixed with the idea of Rootbeer Cookies, and our mom made us the ghost cake with glowing eyes for our Halloween birthday party.

These are also the best brownies to take to a meeting if it is your turn to bring the snack or if you are making a dinner for a family as part of a meal train.  If you don’t add nuts to them it’s pretty safe to say most people will like them.  They are not gluten free, but you could certainly mess around with the recipe to make them so.

Here is how kids of all ages can make Acme Brownies:

Ingredients for Acme Brownies

• 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate (Baker’s chocolate squares are what we use)
• 10 T (+ a little) butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs (we used pasture-raised eggs)
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (we use Penzeys single or double-strength)
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• powdered sugar for dusting top of brownies once cool
• shortening for greasing pan (we use old fashioned Crisco and a paper towel)

Instructions for how to make Acme Brownies

1. Grease a 9″ x 13″ pan
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
3. In a large saucepan melt butter and chocolate squares and stir continuously until smooth. Do not let it bubble and burn.
4. Remove pan from heat
5. Stir in sugar to chocolate mixture until well blended
6. Stir in eggs one at a time and mix well
7. Add the vanilla and spill in a few drops extra!
8. In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt
9. Add the flour mix to the chocolate mix and stir until well-blended
10. Pour mixture into 9″ x 13″ greased pan
11. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees
12. Check to see if done by sticking knife vertically into center of brownies. Also check to see if the brownies have started to pull away from sides of the pan.
13. Cool pan of brownies by setting it on a metal cookie rack
14. Once cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar
15. Cut into 36 squares of pure brownie goodness

These brownies taste best cold. Be sure to not overbake them and let them cool completely before sprinkling with powdered sugar.

Really nice vanilla makes a great gift. My sister usually gives me a bottle of vanilla for Christmas or my birthday or just if she is feeling generous. We usually use Penzeys Pure Vanilla Extract in either single strength or double strength.

Acme brownies are not super moist.  Dense and chocolaty would be the best way to describe them.  When people taste them they usually remark, “These are made from scratch, aren’t they?”  

Perhaps the key to these brownies is to NOT overbake them.   So, the knife test is necessary and a visual test to see if the brownies are pulling away from the side of the pan is also important.

Don’t make my mistake

As a side note: the original directions are not enitrely clear on one point. They say to cool the brownies on a wire rack. Don’t make the same mistake I did. When I was young and had baked a nice batch of these brownies, I yelled upstairs to my mom to ask for clarification of that part. Do you take the brownies out of the pan and cool them on a wire rack or just set the whole pan of brownies on a wire rack to cool? I was not sure.

Just put them on a wire rack

My mom kept yelling down, “Just put them on a wire rack.”

Since I still wasn’t quite sure what she meant, I took a butter knife and slid it around the edge of the brownies to loosen them from the pan. Then, I turned the pan upside down on the wire rack. As a result, the brownies stuck to the bottom of the pan and all I had was a brownie mess that looked like piles of dirt.

So, set the pan of brownies on a wire rack to cool. Then let them cool completely before cutting them and removing them from the pan. It just works better.

Acme Brownies are the best for back to school treats

We are sure Acme Brownies will become your favorite brownies to both bake and eat. They will provide some retro comfort for those back to school days to come.

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