Nanaimo Bar

Nanaimo Bar is a Canadian dessert named after the city Nanaimo, British Columbia. It is a no bake bar made with three layers of pure goodness. You get a chocolatey, biscuit-coconut base, a sweet cream filling, and a top layer of rich semi-sweet chocolate.

This is my first time making and eating Nanaimo bars and it’s so simple and tastes incredibly good.

I love how simple it is because you can make so many variations to both the base and the filling.

Ingredients

Base:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, diced into pieces (113g)

1/4 cup granulated sugar (50g)

5 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 3/4 cup crushed digestive biscuits (180g)

1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped (76g)

1 cup shredded coconut (83g)

1/2 tbsp espresso powder (optional)

Filling

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (113g)

2 – 3 Tbsp heavy cream

2 Tbsp custard powder, or 1/4 cup instant dry milk powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups (240g) powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Top Layer

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

2 Tbsp unsalted butter (28g)

Instructions

Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking dish. Line with parchment paper and set aside.

Base:

Melt butter in large heat proof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water set over medium-low heat.

Remove from heat, add in sugar, cocoa powder and salt and whisk until well combined. While whisking vigorously, very slowly pour in beaten egg in a thin stream.

Return mixture to heat and cook until mixture has just thickened.

Remove from heat and add in biscuit crumbs, coconut, and almonds and toss until evenly coated.

Press mixture into prepared baking dish.

Chill while preparing the filling, bottom layer shouldn’t be warm when adding the custard frosting layer.

Filling:

Custard Powder: Add powdered sugar, butter, custard powder and 2 Tbsp heavy cream to a bowl. Whip until very pale and fluffy while adding another 1 Tbsp cream to thin if needed.

Powdered Milk: Add 1/4 cup powdered milk and 3 Tbsp heavy cream to the bowl and whisk vigorously to dissolve powdered milk. Add in butter, powdered sugar and vanilla and beat mixture until very light and fluffy.

Spread mixture into an even layer over bottom layer. Chill preferably in the freezer while melting chocolate, otherwise the warm chocolate can melt this layer.

Top layer:

Melt semi-sweet chocolate along with butter in a heat proof bowl, set over a pot of simmering water until smooth or in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl in 20 second intervals stirring between each, until melted and smooth.

Spread mixture into an even layer over filling layer. Chill until chocolate has set.

Cut into squares. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator, bring to room temperature before serving.

Tips:

*To chop ingredients I recommend using the food processor:

Break digestive biscuits in half, add to the food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. Transfer to a bowl.

To crush by hand place biscuits in a resealable bag and crush using a rolling pin.

Add the almonds and pulse in short bursts until chopped very small, transfer to bowl with the biscuits.

Almonds can also be chopped fine by hand.

*Toasting nuts and seeds brings out the flavour in the desert.

**Skip the egg if you have a weakened immune system

*To cut into Nanaimo Bars without cracking the top layer of chocolate, refrigerate bars until the top chocolate layer is firm. Take a knife, and put it in a measuring jug filled with very hot water. Do a few cuts then put it back in the hot water, repeat until you have it all completely cut into squares.