Brownies believed to have originated in Chicago, in 1893, were the result of Mrs. Bertha Potter Palmer’s request when she asked the chef at the Palmer House Hotel to “create a dessert that could be tucked into a box lunch for ladies to eat while attending the Columbian Exposition.” The result, of course, was the first brownie.
But how did brownies become popular outside of Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel? The answer is a combination of things, such as early classes for women on how to maintain a good home, which included how to run a kitchen, and also through magazines, and cookbooks.
Eventually, though no one knows who wrote the first brownie recipe, one was published in a cookbook. Though Fanni Farmer’s cookbook released in 1896 had a brownie recipe it was not the same one as the first known written recipe.
Regardless of who first invented the brownie or published the recipe, most chocolate lovers are just happy that someone did.
Centuries later brownies are still one of America’s favorite desserts. Though there is an endless number of brownie flavors, there are only three main styles:
- Fudgy
- Cakey
- Chewy
And of course, most people have their preference of inside or outside squares. Whatever your preference if you are a brownie lover then a brownie of the month subscription is the ideal club for you.
Or, if your special someone loves brownies and you want to give them a gift to let them know your thinking of them all year, the brownie of the month membership makes the perfect gift.
Brownie of the Month Clubs
- Cheryl’s Cookies
- Vermont Brownie Company
- David’s Cookies
- Cupcakes in Jars
- Simply Divine Brownies
Brownie Gift Baskets
- Fairytale Brownies
- Brownie Points
Brownie of the Month Clubs
Cheryl’s Cookies
Cheryl’s Cookies, founded by college roommates, Cheryl Krueger and Caryl Walker, launched in 1981. They opened their first store in Columbus, Ohio, and sold six types of cookies and soda.
It wasn’t long before Cheryl’s expanded its confectionary line to include other baked goods and desserts like:
- Gourmet Brownies
- Cakes
- Seasonal Decorated Cookies
- Gifts
As Cheryl’s Cookies continued to grow, they were able to open more storefronts and eventually launched their baked goods and gifts online. Finally, in 2005 they merged with 1-800-Flowers, and now their cookies and baked goods are known throughout the country.
Today Cheryl’s offers:
- A wide variety of cookies, including
- Gluten-Free
- Butter Cream Frosted
- Kosher
- Gourmet
- Sugar-Free
- Bars and Brownies
- Bundt Cakes
- Gift Baskets, Boxes, Towers, Tins, and Jars
- Holiday and special occasion cookies
In addition to their many baked goods, they also offer a choice of monthly subscriptions, one of which is a brownie of the month club.
The brownie club offers:
- A 6 or 12-month option
- The six-month option ships every other month
- 10 bars per shipment
- The brownie varieties are preselected:
- Buttercream Frosted Hot Cocoa
- Blondie Walnut
- Raspberry Crumb
- Fudge
- Caramel Fudge
- Buttercream Frosted Buckeye
- Caramel Peanut Butter Chocolate
- Toffee Almond Crunch
- Oatmeal Scotchie
- Chocolate Chip Brookie
- Buttercream Frosted Peanut Butter Fudge
Vermont Brownie Company
Vermont Brownie Company, headquartered in Shelburne, Vermont, started on New Years Day in 2008. They are an online store that creates a variety of brownies made from as many local ingredients as possible. Additionally, all of their brownies are preservative-free.
They offer eight different flavors of brownies:
- Signature Brownie
- Walnut Chunk Brownie
- Maple Toffee Brownie
- Dark Chocolate Chevre Brownie
- Peanut Butter Brownie
- Triple Chocolate Chunk Blondie
- Apple Blondie
- Espresso Brownie
Vermont Brownie specializes in gifts and offers an abundance of packaging to suit any occasion. Amongst the many choices they offer, they also have a brownie of the month club. Their monthly brownie program includes:
- Free Shipping
- Quantity options – Full Dozen or Half Dozen
- Duration options – 3, 6, 9, or 12-months
- Each delivery includes individually wrapped small-batch all-natural brownies
- Choice of Packaging
- Lots of Love
- Red Hearts
- Blue Sky
- Classic Vermont
- Winter Night
- Merry & Bright
- Choice of Ribbon for an additional $2.00 Charge
- Happy Valentines Day
- I Love You
- Happy Birthday
- Thank You
- Congratulations
- No Ribbon
- Free Personalized Card
David’s Cookies
David’s Cookies started in 1979 by David Liederman. The first shop opened in Manhattan. Today, many years later, they have 200 retails stores and an online store.
Since 1979 David’s Cookies not only opened more stores, but they also expanded their line of baked goods. Now David’s Cookies sells:
- Frozen cookie dough
- Fresh baked cookies
- Brownies
- Cakes
- Birthday
- Cheesecake
- Cookie Cakes
- Crumb cakes
- Tarts
- Mini Desserts
- Sugar-Free
- Cookies
- Cakes
- Gluten-Free
- Cookies
- Brownies
In addition to their many desserts, they also offer a variety of gift options:
- Corporate
- Valentine’s
- Birthday
- Get Well
- Thank You
And, of course, they have a brownie of the month club. There are two main club choices, one tray or two trays of brownies. Both offer:
- Duration Options:
- 3 Months: $19.98/Month
- 6 Months: $19.16/Month
- 9 Months: $18.33/Month
- 12 Months: $17.50/Month
- Free shipping
- Each month includes a new flavor of brownies, the brownies included in the club are:
- Rocky Road Brownies
- Blondie with Chocolate Chips Brownies
- Macaroon (Coconut) Brownies
- Chocolate Chip Chocolate Brownies
- Pecan Brownies
- Cheesecake brownies
Cupcakes in Jars
Cupcakes in Jars is an online bakery that offers a variety of sweet treats. Although their name makes you think of cupcakes, they don’t actually sell cupcakes; instead, they offer:
- Caramels
- Brown Sugar Caramels
- Brown Sugar Fleur de Sel Caramels
- Brownies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies
- Cookies N Cream Brownies
- Peanut Butter Bliss BonBon Brownies
- XXX Rated Dark Chocolate Bliss Brownies
- Homemade Marshmallows
- Banana Walnut
- Birthday Cake Buttercream
- Homemade Vanilla
- S’mmmmmmarshmallow
- Spiced Vanilla Chai
- Toasted Coconut Vanilla
- Vanilla Cinnamon Sugar
And of course, they have a brownie of the month club, how the subscription works:
- There are two subscription options
- 3 Months $40
- 6 Months $75
- No two months will be the same flavor unless that’s what you want
- Ability to indicate which, if any, flavors you don’t want to be included
- The first month is always XXX Rated Dark Chocolate Bliss Brownies
- In addition to the above flavor options, they also have:
- The Kitchen Sink – contains Snickers, KitKat, and Milky Way candy bars
- Biscoff Cookie
- Browned Butter Blondies
- Cheesecake Brownies
- Peanut Butter and Jelly
- Irish Cream
- Dulce de Leche
- Nutella Dark Chocolate
- Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies
- German Chocolate Brownies
- Coconut Almond Brownies
- Dark Chocolate Cherry Brownies
- Fluffernutter Brownies – Dark Chocolate with Marshmallows and Peanut Butter
- Each month the recipient will receive a half dozen large individually wrapped brownies
- Shipments are sent out the same day every month unless it falls on a weekend, at which point they will ship the following Monday
- Brownies are shipped USPS 2-3 Priority Mail
Simply Divine Brownies
The Simply Divine Brownies founders are a mother-daughter duo based out of Maine. These ladies have spent years perfecting their recipes inspired by both family recipes as well as new flavor combinations.
They are an online store that specializes in premium baked sweets, especially brownies. Some of the other tasty treats they offer are:
- Bars
- Cashew
- Pecan Pie
- Macaroons
- Granola
- Snack Mix
- Truffles
- Brownies
- Image Brownies – They can use a digital image you provide to decorate their brownies
- Holiday and Special Occasion brownies
- Plus over 50 flavors and specialty brownies
Simply Divine Brownies stands out for their abundance of unique brownie flavor and frosting options. And, the best way to experience these flavors is by signing up for their brownie of the month subscription:
- Brownie club options
- 3 months – $98.00
- 6 months – $180
- 9 months – $250.00
- 12 months. – $320
- Half a dozen brownies baked from scratch
- You can choose which months you want the shipments to arrive
Brownie Gift Baskets
Fairytale Brownies
Fairytale Brownies started as Eileen and Dan’s childhood dream of a world full of brownies.
Fairytale Brownies began as a kindergarten friendship between Eileen and Dan, who later became business partners in 1992, making their dream of a brownie world into a reality.
Fairytale Brownies sells their brownies both online and in their retail store in Phoenix, Arizona. Additionally, you can find their gourmet brownies at other local Arizona retailers.
Their brownies are available in three different sizes:
- Full-Size Brownies
- Snack-Size Brownies
- Bite-Size Morsels
Additionally, they offer brownies for special dietary needs, like:
- Nut-Free
- Sugar-Free
But what Fairtatale Brownies does best are gifts. They have three different gift packaging options:
- Gift Tins
- Towers
- Customized Photo Gift Boxes
- Gift Boxed
Their gift options range in price from $29.95 to $369.95, and everything in between. The gift options include any of the three sizes of brownies and come in several flavor options:
- Caramel
- Chocolate Chip
- Original
- Raspberry Swirl
- Walnut
- Cream Cheese
- Espresso Nib
- Cinnamon Cocoa
- White Chocolate
- Toffee Crunch
- Pecan
There are a flavor and gift option to suit any brownie lover.
Brownie Points
Last but far from least is the bakery Brownie Points. Brownie Points has a rocky history that eventually smoothed out to become the successful business it is today.
The original owner, Lisa King, started the company while still working as a school teacher. Brownie Points began as a hobby that later developed into a business. However, a few years in, King made a difficult decision and sold her company.
But that was not the last time King would own Brownie Points. A few years later, when she was going through a divorce, King repurchased the company with the help of her sister-in-law.
After moving back to Columbus, Ohio, Lisa started Brownie Points from the ground up, and today she owns one of the most popular online brownie bakeries in the US. Brownie Points has appeared on several national TV programs like Fox Business, The Today Show, Food Network, and Good Morning America.
Today, Brownie Points offers an array of products and gifts such as:
- Gourmet Brownie Bites
- Gourmet Popcorn (Her new husband owned a popcorn company that later merged with Brownie Points)
- BIG Brownies
- Handmade chocolate confections
- Gifts for all occasions and holidays
- Corporate gifts
The available gift options range from a box of 4 brownies to baskets and towers. Some of their best selling gifts are:
- Baby Brownies 100 for $130
- Includes a large variety of individually wrapped Baby Brownies with flavors like:
- Cookies and Cream
- Butterscotch Sensations
- Cappuccino Toffee Fudge
- Birthday Cake
- Caramel Macchiato
- Chocolate Caramel
- Chocolate Caramel Sea
- All Occasion Box Delight 4 for $20
- Four of their top BIG gourmet brownies
- Brownies are 3×3 in size
- Flavors may include:
- Kitchen Sink
- Chocolate Fudge
- Butterscotch Sensations
- Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt
- Can’t Live Without it Basket for $73
- Includes brownies, chocolate confections, and popcorn
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