What fruit glaze tops the Palmer House Brownie?

The Palmer House Brownie is topped with an apricot glaze.

The dessert is associated with Chicago’s Palmer House hotel and Bertha Palmer, who asked the hotel’s pastry team for a portable chocolate confection for visitors to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The resulting brownie is traditionally made with chocolate, butter, sugar, flour, eggs, and walnuts.

The glaze is more distinctive than the topping on many modern brownies. The hotel’s recipe combines apricot preserves with water and unflavored gelatin, then boils the mixture briefly before brushing it over the warm brownie. This creates a thin, glossy, lightly fruity layer rather than a thick frosting.

A common mix-up is assuming the Palmer House version is simply a standard fudgy brownie. Its historical recipe is unusually rich, walnut-covered, and deliberately kept gooey in the center. The hotel still serves a version based on this centuries-old recipe.