Na-Na-Nanaimo Bars

I always find when baking, it is hard to get past cookies. Usually when I bake it’s because I want to eat something delicious, or I need to be distracted for no more than 20 min. That’s why I always make cookies, sometimes cupcakes, but never really more creative than that.

So time to venture past plopping a bunch of ingredients in a bowl and shoving them in the oven. On reading week I made Nanaimo Bars!

They are amazing. In the words of Joey, what’s not to like? Coconut chocolate? Good. Creamy inside? Good. Chocolate topping? Good.

Now let’s get started because these take a while:

Ingredients:

Base:

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

3 tsbp. margarine

3 tbsp. corn syrup

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups graham wafer crumbs* (If you are like me you should know that you can buy these as crumbs and don't have to spend forever squishing crackers)

1/3 cup shredded coconut

Pinch of salt

Filling:

3 tbsp. margarine

3 tbsp. custard powder

2 cups icing sugar

2 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Topping

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. In a metal bowl, combine brown sugar, cocoa, margarine, and corn syrup. Stir in egg and set over a pot of simmering water.

2. Whisk until the mixture melts and thickens slightly.

3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, graham crumbs, coconut and salt. Press mixture into the botton of an ungreased 8" x 8" pan. Put in the freezer while making next layer.

4. In a medium bowl, beat the margarine, custard powder, icing sugar, milk and vanilla until creamy and smooth, adding milk a teaspoon at a time if necessary.

5. Spread over base. Return to the freezer to chill until firm, before covering with chocolate.

6. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Spread over the filling, refrigerate until firm.

7. Cutting them, this is where I ran into problems, my chocolate was so hard cutting them was a disaster resulting in very strange shaped "bars." The book recommends leaving the bars out half an hour before cutting them, you can also try using a heated knife.

These are amazing, definitely worth the wait.

Ps. Ste. Famille Fam Facts: Caitlin's hometown like neighbours the town of Nanaimo, BC where Nanaimo Bars come from! Representin' Canada yo.