Deep dish pizza. Shrimp de Jonghe. Chicken Vesuvio. All Chicago culinary classics with enduring spots on restaurant menus. Yet another, arguably as important to the history of the city's eats, isn't seen as much: the Palmer House brownie.
An iconic symbol of the city and its role hosting the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, the brownie was created in Chicago, the story goes. Bertha Palmer, president of the fair's Board of Lady Managers, is said to have asked the hotel chef for a dessert to serve at the exposition _ and thus the Palmer House chocolate fudge brownie was born. Nearly 125 years later, we decided it was time for an update.
We asked Alison Cates, the 2017 Jean Banchet Award-winning pastry chef formerly at Honey's, to put a new spin on the recipe, last published in the Tribune in 2004. Her approach was to keep much of the base the same, making a few tweaks, and update the topping of walnuts and an apricot glaze.
"I liked the original brownie recipe," Cates. "The base is really solid. It just needed some salt. And I wanted to keep it a little bit more exciting but still approachable enough, so people won't be scared making it."
Cates used bittersweet chocolate rather than the semisweet called for in the original recipe. And she avoided "super-expensive" chocolate because of the high percentage of sugar in the recipe.
"I think that's kind of a waste," she said, referring to using high-end chocolate here, "but staying in the bittersweet realm is smart because usually brownie recipes have a high amount of sugar in them and you don't want to add extra sugar (with a sweeter chocolate)."
Cooks trying the recipe should be careful melting the chocolate because scorched chocolate would have to be replaced. Cates brings the water up to a simmer, turns the heat off and then puts the bowl with the chocolate over the water for melting.
For the topping, Cates went with a fig chutney and toasted macadamia nuts, a combo she used in a dessert at Honey's.
"I love macadamia nuts, and I think they are completely underutilized. You don't see them a lot in pastries, so I thought they'd be fun," she said. You could, if you wish, substitute lightly salted and toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds).
Cates thought a fig chutney would have an acidity and a brightness to counter the brownie's chocolate richness and offer more interest than a glaze made with apricot preserves.
What to pair with these brownies? Cates suggests a glass of port.
