One of my favorite deserts growing up were Congo Squares, also known as blonde brownies. I have absolutely no idea where the name Congo Squares came from and I should really ask my mother about that, but all I know is that's what we called them growing up. My mother had (and still has) a little box of index cards with recipes in it. As a kid, it was almost a little box of joy, excitement and anticipation. If that box was on the counter you knew that one of the old favorites and family classics was in progress.
Because of their familiarity and my comfort level with them, those recipes often became my first attempts at baking. When I was 11 I was at home, either because of a holiday or had come home at the end of the school day, and I decided I wanted to make Congo Squares. I went to that little tan box and pulled out the recipe and then called my mother to make sure she wouldn't mind if I made them. She asked me if we had all the ingredients and I told her that I had checked and we did. She gave me the go-ahead with the only caveat being that I needed to make sure to clean up afterwards.
I rolled up my sleeves and went to work. I went about gathering my ingredients and setting them on the counter. I went down the hand-written list. Flour, check. Baking powder, check. Salt, check. Shortening, we use butter in my house so check. Eggs, check. 1 cup chopped nutmeg. Hmm, I don't remember my mother using nutmeg when she made them. Oh well, its on the recipe, I just must not remember. A package of chocolates or raisins, check.
I mixed the dry ingredients in a small bowl, measuring them all out carefully, I do remember measuring out a cup of nutmeg and thinking my mother must go thru a lot of nutmeg since there would only be enough in the container for two batches of Congo Squares. Then I mixed the melted butter and brown sugar in the stand mixer. Next I added the eggs one at a time and slowly added the dry ingredients a little at a time. Lastly I added in the chocolate chips.
I spread the mix in a greased baking dish and put it in the already preheated oven at 350 degrees. I set the timer and went to the other room to wait for the deliciousness to be done. When they were ready the dog and I went back into the kitchen to retrieve the tasty goodness. I pulled them out and cut them into squares and tasted one. They were terrible, absolutely inedible! The dog was still standing next to me still and I decided to try to give him my piece I had just cut myself. He took one stiff of it and walked out of the kitchen and this was the dog that had eaten three spoonfuls of ground horseradish and went back for more!! My best guess was that there must have somehow been too much nutmeg. I scraped the rest out of the pan, threw it away and put the pan in the sink to soak.
My mother came home later and walked into the kitchen. She looked around for the Congo Squares and didn't see them anywhere, but did see the pan soaking. Amazed that I might have finished off all the Congo Squares by myself, she came and found me in the living room. She said "Ariel, where are the Congo Squares?"
I said "Oh, I threw them out. They had too much nutmeg in them."
"Nutmeg? I don't remember the recipe calling for any nutmeg..."
"Yeah, it called for a cup of chopped nutmeg."
"A CUP?!?!"
I took her into the kitchen to show her the recipe and show her that I wasn't crazy. I pulled it out and showed her where it said nutmeg. It turns out that in my mother's cursive handwriting I had read nutmeg where it really said nutmeats, a term for nuts that I had never heard before. It also turns out that nutmeg in large quantities is poisonous so its a good think that neither I or the dog ate it.
Most people upon hearing this story asked my mother "You HAD a cup of nutmeg?!". It turns out what I thought would have been a two serving sized container of nutmeg was more like a life-time supply that would last most people at least 5 years. That is, of course, unless they are trying to make Congo Squares....
2 3/4 cup flour
2 1/1 tsp. baking powder
1.2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening
2 1/4 cup brown sugar (1 lb)
3 eggs
1 cup chopped nutmeats
1 package raisins or chocolates
hilarious!
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