Brownie nutrition is our most perfect chocolate brownie recipe. Serve these brownies warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and you’ll understand what happiness is.

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Illustration of a brownie by Alice B Woodward. Illustration of a brownie sweeping with a handmade broom by Alice B. Hobgoblin from Scottish folklore that is said to come out at night while the owners of the house are asleep and perform various chores and farming tasks. Brownies originated as domestic tutelary spirits, very similar to the Lares of ancient Roman tradition. Descriptions of brownies vary regionally, but they are usually described as ugly, brown-skinned, and covered in hair.

In the oldest stories, they are usually human-sized or larger. In more recent times, they have come to be seen as small and wizened. Although the name brownie originated as a dialectal word used only in the UK, it has since become the standard term for all such creatures throughout the UK and Ireland. Regional variants in England and Scotland include hobs, silkies, and ùruisgs. Roman Lararium, or household shrine to the Lares, from the House of the Vettii in Pompeii. Brownies bear many similarities to the Roman Lares.

Brownies originated as domestic tutelary spirits, very similar to the Lares of ancient Roman tradition, who were envisioned as the protective spirits of deceased ancestors. The family cult of deceased ancestors in ancient times centred around the hearth, which later became the place where offerings would be left for the brownie. Traditions about brownies are generally similar across different parts of Great Britain. They are said to inhabit homes and farms. Brownies are almost always described as solitary creatures who work alone and avoid being seen.

In the late nineteenth century, the Irish folklorist Thomas Keightley described the brownie as “a personage of small stature, wrinkled visage, covered with short curly brown hair, and wearing a brown mantle and hood”. Brownies are usually described as either naked or clothed in rags. Like the Phooka in Irish folklore, brownies are sometimes described as taking the forms of animals. If the brownie feels he has been slighted or taken advantage of, he will vanish forever, taking the prosperity of the house with him. And they’ll hae some wark ere it’s mow’d again! A brownie can also be driven away if someone attempts to baptize him.

In some stories, even the manner in which their bowls of cream are given is enough to drive the brownie away. Sometimes giving the brownie a name was enough to drive him away. A brownie who haunted Almor Burn near Pitlochry in Perthshire was often heard splashing and paddling in the water. If the family gives the brownie a gift of clothing, he will leave forever and refuse to work for the family. Red breeks and a ruffled sark!

Ye’ll no get me to do your wark! Ye’se get nae mair o’ Brownie’s wark. Explanations differ regarding why brownies disappear when presented with clothes, but the most common explanation is that the brownie regards the gift of clothing as an insult. I have served you many a year. The Cauld Lad of Hilton seems to have wanted clothes and to have been grateful for the gift of them, yet still refused to stay after receiving them.

Here’s a cloak, and here’s a hood! The Cauld Lad of Hilton will do no more good! It is possible that the Cauld Lad may have simply thought himself “too grand for work”, a motif attested to in other folk tales, or that the gift of clothing may have been seen as a means of freeing him from a curse. In the nineteenth century, the pothook used to hang pots over the fire was made with a crook in it, which was known in Herefordshire as the “brownie’s seat” or “brownie’s sway”. Although the name brownie originated in the early 16th century as a dialect word used only in the Scottish Lowlands and along the English border, it has become the standard name for a variety of similar creatures appearing in the folklores of various cultures across Britain.