There is no clear record of how brownies were first made. They were first made in the late 1880s. The first known recipe for brownies was in the 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue. The most popular story about the origin of the brownie is about a housewife in Bangor, Maine. It says that the house wife forgot to add baking powder to a chocolate cake she was making. The cake did not rise but it was still delicious. Chocolate brownies are also very popular dessert in the United Kingdom.