Palmer House Brownies (Walnut and Apricot Glaze)
The fudgy, walnut-topped chocolate bars Chicago's Palmer House hotel says it first made for the 1893 World's Fair, finished with a thin, shiny apricot glaze.
The Palmer House, a Chicago hotel, tells the story this way: for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Bertha Palmer asked the hotel's pastry kitchen for a small dessert that could be packed into boxed lunches for women visiting the fair, and the result was a dense chocolate bar topped with walnuts and an apricot glaze. The Institute of Culinary Education repeats it as the story "storytellers" tell and publishes the hotel's recipe, and Chicago public radio station WBEZ, marking 130 years in 2023, frames it as legend. Wikipedia calls it "one legend" and notes the name "brownie" was applied later, not in cookbooks of 1893. The printed record is messier: Fannie Farmer's 1896 brownies were molasses cakes with no chocolate; an 1899 Chicago "Brownie cake" and 1904 club cookbooks had chocolate versions; Farmer added chocolate in 1906; and Lowney's 1907 cookbook printed a richer "Bangor Brownie". The Palmer House still serves its brownie today.
🇺🇸 This one is American
The fudgy, walnut-topped chocolate bars Chicago's Palmer House hotel says it first made for the 1893 World's Fair, finished with a thin, shiny apricot glaze.
🇦🇹 The original
Vienna's original is a dense chocolate sponge spread with apricot jam under a hard, glossy chocolate glaze, served with unsweetened whipped cream. See the Sachertorte (Viennese Chocolate Apricot Torte) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
A low, slow oven
At 300°F the thick slab sets at the edges without the center drying out, which is how a 4-pound batch stays fudgy.
A gelatin glaze holds the nuts
The thin apricot coat sets as it cools, gluing the walnuts in place and giving the top its signature shine.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 300°F. Grease a 9 x 12-inch (or 9 x 13-inch) baking pan with 2-inch sides and line it with parchment.
- Step 2
Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowl over barely simmering water, stirring until smooth.
- Step 3
Mix the sugar and flour in a large bowl, pour in the chocolate and stir with a spatula for 4 to 5 minutes, until glossy and thick.
- Step 4
Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until fully combined. Pour into the pan, scatter the walnuts evenly over the top and press them down slightly.
- Step 5
Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until the brownies have risen about 1/4 inch and the edges are a little crisp; a tester in the center still comes out gooey. Cool 30 minutes.
- Step 6
Meanwhile, bring the water, preserves and gelatin to a boil in a small saucepan and boil 2 minutes. Brush a thin layer of the hot glaze over the cooled brownies.
- Step 7
Cut into 24 squares. For clean cuts, freeze 3 to 4 hours after glazing, then cut and let them come back to room temperature. Serve with ice cream if you like.
Palmer House Brownies (Walnut and Apricot Glaze)
Serves 24 · 24 brownies (one 9 x 12 or 9 x 13-inch pan) · 1 hr total
Brownies
- 14 oz (397 g) semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 lb (4 sticks, 454 g) unsalted butter
- 12 oz (340 g, about 1 3/4 cups) granulated sugar
- 4 oz (113 g, about 1 cup minus 1 tbsp) all-purpose flour
- 8 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 12 oz (340 g, about 3 cups) walnuts, crushed
Apricot glaze
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup apricot preserves
- 1 tsp unflavored powdered gelatin
Method
- Heat the oven to 300°F. Grease a 9 x 12-inch (or 9 x 13-inch) baking pan with 2-inch sides and line it with parchment.
- Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowl over barely simmering water, stirring until smooth.
- Mix the sugar and flour in a large bowl, pour in the chocolate and stir with a spatula for 4 to 5 minutes, until glossy and thick.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until fully combined. Pour into the pan, scatter the walnuts evenly over the top and press them down slightly.
- Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until the brownies have risen about 1/4 inch and the edges are a little crisp; a tester in the center still comes out gooey. Cool 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring the water, preserves and gelatin to a boil in a small saucepan and boil 2 minutes. Brush a thin layer of the hot glaze over the cooled brownies.
- Cut into 24 squares. For clean cuts, freeze 3 to 4 hours after glazing, then cut and let them come back to room temperature. Serve with ice cream if you like.
Adapted from "The Palmer House Brownie", published by the Institute of Culinary Education as adapted from the original. Amounts, the 9 x 12-inch pan, 300°F, timing, doneness cue and the apricot glaze are as printed there. The recipe lists vanilla without an amount; 1 tsp is ours. A Deccan Herald piece on the hotel today (search summary only) says the kitchen now also adds baking soda; we follow the ICE text, which has none. The 24-piece count is ours. ice.edu. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Stirring the chocolate into the sugar and flour for a full 4 to 5 minutes makes the batter glossy and the top shiny.
- You will have leftover glaze; it keeps in the refrigerator for the next batch.
- Half batch: halve everything and use an 8 or 9-inch square pan, checking from 25 minutes (our timing).
- Gooey center, raw eggs: see the Food safety baseline.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- The brownie was invented at the Palmer House in 1893. Disputed: the hotel's story (repeated by ICE and WBEZ as legend), but Wikipedia says the name came later and points to chocolate brownie recipes in print from 1899 to 1907.
- Fannie Farmer published the first brownie. Disputed: Wikipedia says her 1896 brownie had molasses and no chocolate, and that she added chocolate in 1906, after other printed versions.
- Brownies are named for their color. Folklore: widely repeated, but none of our sources documents it.
- Bertha Palmer asked for a dessert for boxed lunches. Folklore: part of the hotel's story; we found no 1893 document.
- The original has no leavening. Documented for the ICE recipe text, which lists none.
Every other chocolate cake
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Vienna's famous chocolate torte: a light, dark chocolate sponge split and filled with apricot jam, brushed with more jam and covered in a glossy poured chocolate glaze, served with unsweetened whipped cream.
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