The Classic Nanaimo Bar

Classic Nanaimo Bars

I always thought these delicious bars were difficult to make. Anything with three layers had to be, not only difficult, but time consuming. Guess what? Not so! All you really need to know, is how to warm something up, mix ingredients together, and spread the ingredients into a pan. Voila! 

You don't even have to turn your oven on. The best way to quickly make these squares, or any square for that matter, is to measure all your ingredients before you start. Then you simply follow the instructions and before you know it, you have Nanaimo Bars.

Bottom Layer

Unsalted butter                                                          ½ cup                                     
Granulated sugar                                                       ¼ cup
Cocoa                                                                          5 tbsp

Large egg beaten                                                        1
Graham wafer crumbs                                               1 ¾ cups
Finely chopped almonds(or another nut)                ½ cup

Semi sweet coconut                                                   1 cup

Melt first three ingredients in top of a double boiler.
Add egg and stir to cook and thicken.
Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, coconut and nuts.
Press firmly into an ungreased 9″x9″ pan.

Middle layer

Unsalted butter                                                           ½ cup
Heavy cream                                                               3 tbsp
Vanilla custard powder (Birds Custard)                  2 tbsp
Icing sugar                                                                   2 cups

Cream butter, heavy cream, custard powder and icing sugar together well.
Beat until light. Spread over bottom layer. (Heavy cream is 35% whipping cream).

Top Layer

Semi-sweet chocolate (1 oz. each)                           6 squares
Unsalted butter                                                             3 Tbsp

Over a pot of simmering water, melt your chocolate in a bowl, ensuring the bowl does not touch the water below. Cool, then pour over the top of the middle layer.

If you like a little less chocolate, you can get away with 4 squares and 2 Tbsp of butter. A cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips melted with the butter will work also.

Allow the top layer to harden. Put in the fridge for about an hour for all to set.

For best serving results measure your squares and cut with a warmed dry knife. You can simply have a tall vessel to dip your knife in and dry with paper towel between slices. 

Recipe adapted from Joyce Hardcastle’s original Nanaimo Bars From Tourism Nanaimo BC website

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