The birthplace of the brownie can be traced to the kitchen of a Chicago hotel.
So claims the Palmer House, a Hilton hotel that has been operating in downtown Chicago since 1873 (the original hotel was built in 1870 but burned down during the Great Chicago Fire a year later).
Bertha Palmer, wife of Chicago businessman and Palmer House founder Potter Palmer, helped invent the chocolate brownie when she directed the hotel kitchen staff to come up with a confection smaller than a piece of cake for women attending the World’s Columbian Exposition — better known as the Chicago World’s Fair — in 1893, according to the hotel’s website.
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Now, more than 130 years later, the same recipe is still used to serve brownies at the Palmer House today, Scott Gourley, the hotel’s executive chef, told Fox News Digital.
“I probably upgraded the ingredients a little bit since then,” he admitted.
The Palmer House of Chicago is said to be the birthplace of the chocolate brownie, which is still served there to this day. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Palmer House)
The first reference to the “brownie” in America appeared in the Sears Roebuck catalogue, published in Chicago in 1898, the Palmer House claims on its website.
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It remains one of the hotel’s most popular confections, Gourley said.
The brownies are such a draw that people will come to the hotel and buy 40 or 50 of them at a time, he said.
Two Palmer House brownies, shown here, are made from the same recipe as the first batch created in the Chicago hotel’s kitchen in 1893. “I probably upgraded the ingredients a little bit since then,” executive chef Scott Gourley told Fox News Digital. (Palmer House)
“We sold approximately 58,000 of them last year,” Gourley said.
“And we’re already on pace to surpass that this year.”
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The Palmer House shared its original chocolate brownie recipe with Fox News Digital.
Original chocolate brownie recipe from the Palmer House of Chicago
Ingredients
- 5.25 ounces 60% dark couverture chocolate
- 9.75 ounces butter
- 12.75 ounces granulated sugar
- 5 eggs each
- 3.5 ounces all-purpose flour
- ⅛ teaspoon baking powder
- 8 ounces chopped walnuts
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup apricot preserves
- 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
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People who come to the Palmer House will buy 40 or 50 brownies at a time, Gourley said. (Palmer House)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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2. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Mix the baking powder, sugar and flour together in a bowl. Combine chocolate and flour mixtures. Stir for 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs and continue mixing.
3. Pour the mixture into a 9×12 baking sheet. Sprinkle walnuts on top, pressing down slightly into the mixture with your hand. Bake for approximately 35 minutes.
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4. Brownies are done when the edges begin to crisp and have risen about ¼ of an inch.
The brownie served at the Palmer House in Chicago is shown up close. (Palmer House)
Glaze
1. Mix together water, apricot preserves and unflavored gelatin in a sauce pan.
2. Mix thoroughly and bring to a boil for 2 minutes.
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3. Brush hot glaze on brownies while still warm.