Gertrude’s Raspberry Jam Brownies

When my mother, Nancy Powers Martin, was a child in West Medford, Massachusetts, she loved her mother’s desserts. Her favorite was chocolate brownies with homemade raspberry jam swirled into the batter. My grandmother, Gertrude Powers, served these raspberry jam brownies on hand-painted porcelain plates.

My mother, a retired dietitian, substitutes canola oil and cocoa for her mother’s butter and chocolate. My grandmother never put vanilla extract or salt in her raspberry jam brownies. She said they diminish the intensity of the chocolate flavor. I agree, but recently I stirred a tablespoon of raspberry liqueur into the batter before swirling in the jam. The brownies were delicious. My grandmother would have liked them.