And this month the Daring Bakers Challenge was…..

Nanaimo Bars!

uh?

Yep, I had no idea what these were.  Here’s the blip from the challenge description:

Nanaimo Bars are a classic Canadian dessert created in none other than Nanaimo, British Colombia. In case you were wondering, it’s pronounced Nah-nye-Moh. These bars have 3 layers: a base containing graham crackers, cocoa, coconut and nuts, a middle custard layer, and a topping of chocolate. They are extremely rich and available almost everywhere across the country.

The first part of the challenge was to make the graham crackers needed for the bottom layer from scratch.  (See previous blog entry.)  We were also encouraged to make them gluten-free. But being a bit short on funds these days I had to make due with a wheat version since I already had all the ingredients.  The second part of the challenge was whipping up the actual bars….

The process was only a tish time consuming since there were three layers to make up separately, but in the end, these bars were fairly easy to put together.  Always a good thing!  I decided to put that Frangelico on top of my fridge to use and tweaked my bars to have a hazelnut flavor rather than the traditional almond.

Verdict? Rich and delicious! I thought that the middle layer was maybe a tad too sweet and next time around I think I would cut down the powdered sugar and up the Frangelico.  I will also say that I adored the bottom crust layer and will keep this mind for the next time I need a chocolate crust either for a bar or pie….nummmm….

Well done, Canada. 

Nanaimo Bars

Adapted from the City of Nanaimo’s recipe @ http://www.nanaimo.ca/EN/main/visitors/NanaimoBars.html

Ingredients-

Bottom Layer

• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
• 1/4 cup  Granulated Sugar
• 5 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa
• 1 Large Egg, Beaten
• 1 1/4 cups Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous blog post)
• 1/2 cup Almonds – finely chopped.  (I used hazelnuts)
• 1 cup Shredded Coconut (I used sweetened since its all I could find.  I think unsweetened would work just as well…maybe even better.)

Middle Layer

• 1/2 cupUnsalted Butter
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons Heavy Cream
• 2 tablespoons Vanilla Custard Powder (I couldn’t find Bird’s custard mix, but found that Jell-O makes a custard mix…you can find it with the instant pudding mixes.)
• 2 cups Powedered Sugar (I would try cutting this down to 1.5 cups)
• 3-4 shots of Frangelico…what can I say?  I am a lush. 

Top Layer

• 4 ounces Semi-sweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• I would consider upping the top layer up to 1.5 times.  My chocolate layer was really quite thin.

Directions-

1. For Bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. I don’t have a double boiler so I just made a makeshift one like this:

2. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. (You want it to thicken, but cook it too long and you’ll get a lumpy mess…take it from me!  I had to do this step twice….) Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
3. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until fluffy and light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
4. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

My finished graham crackers!

Maybe not the prettiest dessert I’ve ever created, but delicious nonetheless!