Inspiced — Recipe Manager
Chew Bread

Chew Bread

cooking.nytimes.com
For many families growing up in North Carolina, chew bread was commonly served as dessert or a snack, especially after a Sunday church service. This recipe is from Doretha Mitchell, the mother of Ed Mitchell and grandmother of Ryan Mitchell, longtime pitmasters in Wilson, N.C., who now help run True Made Foods, a food company making barbecue sauce and other condiments. She sold the chew bread, along with other desserts, in the 1980s at a supermarket she owned with her husband. Adapted from “Ed Mitchell’s Barbeque” by Ed Mitchell and Ryan Mitchell (Ecco, 2023), this recipe is significantly chewier, denser and less sweet than a blondie. The snack likely originated from sharecroppers who made it with leftovers they received from white families. It also has different names throughout the South, like cornbread cake, or chewies in South Carolina.
  • Preparation:
  • Cooking:
  • Total:
  • Serves: 16 persons

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Use a nonstick pan or lightly brush a deep, 8-by-8-inch square baking pan with canola oil.

  2. Step 2

    Sift the flour into a medium bowl. Add the salt and whisk to combine.

  3. Step 3

    In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and brown sugar until lighter, thin and runny, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a medium saucepan and heat over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

  4. Step 4

    Add the sifted flour, caramel and pecans to the brown sugar mixture and stir until mixture is combined and you no longer see any streaks of flour. Transfer the mixture into the prepared baking pan, spread in an even layer and bake for 15 minutes.

  5. Step 5

    Let the dessert cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then cut into brownie-size squares. Serve warm. Store leftovers in plastic wrap for up to 5 days in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave for 10 seconds.
NY Times
cooking.nytimes.com