Skip to main content

Nanaimo


Have you had a situation where a recipe looked great on paper but was a total disaster when you got around to making it. I have an exact reverse with this year's first daring bakers challenge. Nanaimo bars are a Canadian treat I heard about the first time when Lauren announced the challenge. The overly sweet three-layer bars had everyone in a tizzy but I just couldn't see what the deal was. In fact, I thought they were boring. Until this morning, a day late, I put the final layer together and cut one piece of my round nanaimo pie to dig into. And oh my goodness! they are so so good.

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Step one of the challenge was making graham wafers. Lauren would have preferred us to make them gluten free, but she allowed us to use wheat flour if we liked and that's what I did. This was three days back. I made the crackers, I loved them and crushed them into crumbs to make nanaimos. Then, life happened and this morning was the first chance I got to put it all together.

And it wasn't as scary as it sounded. In fact, it wasn't scary at all. You melt some butter, sugar and cocoa. Then, you beat in an egg but Aparna said to use flax seeds instead and it worked like a dream. In this bowl, you mix your graham cracker crumbs, chopped almonds and coconut. This goes into the pie plate (or a square dish if you insist on bars, you boring person!) pressed as a first layer.

As the first layer chills in the fridge, you beat together butter, cream, custard powder and LOTS of sugar for the second layer. Spreading layers isn't one of my skills but with a huge number of spoons, knives and spatulas I managed it somehow. This goes into the fridge to harden.

Then you melt some butter and chocolate and pour over the final layer. In the fridge for half an hour to set. And that's it!

They are overly sweet so don't you dare eat a lot at one time. But keep them in the freezer and they are going to last you through anytime you need a quick sugar and chocolate fix.
Labels:

Comments

jayasree said…
Bars look delicious...
Truly, reading your post, I just got a clear nutshell view of what is to be done. And your writeup makes it sound doable.
January 28, 2010 at 11:51 AM
Parita said…
Perfect looking nanaimo bars! Next time I am going to try them with flax seeds!
January 28, 2010 at 3:04 PM
CurryLeaf said…
Lovely.I too thght they were boring and thgh I had seen and had the recipe,I did not try.Looks Great.
January 28, 2010 at 7:32 PM
Siri said…
It raining 'Nanaimo' bars these days.. and a perfect reason, I love them all. DK, was raving about this recipe other day on phone and now you too! I have to make these soon, I guess..

Hope everything is going well at your end Simran,
Hugs,
Siri
January 29, 2010 at 3:56 AM
Aparna Balasubramanian said…
Guess you're glad you made it in the end, even at the last minute! They can be addictive.

You used flax seeds too. :)
January 31, 2010 at 9:17 AM
s said…
It looks so chocolatey and delicious...I know they were WAY too sweet ....
January 31, 2010 at 5:42 PM
Unknown said…
Yayy you liked them! Lol, sorry but I just get excited to see you like sweets, since maybe that will get you to bake more :P :P Beautiful bars
February 27, 2010 at 12:39 AM
Anjum said…
Fab job!! Worth the effort.Do drop by at http://anjuskitchentreasures.blogspot.com/
February 28, 2010 at 12:20 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kadhi Chawal

I just can't think of what to write today. That's what my absolute favorite meal does to me, I just want to stop talking and dig right in. So I won't ramble and go straight on the recipe for kadhi. First, make the pakoras that would go in the kadhi. Slice an onion lengthwise. Make a batter with 1/2 cup chickpea flour (besan), salt, red chilli powder and water. Dip onions in this batter and deep fry until crisp. Keep aside. Now blend 1 cup yogurt and 1/3 cup besan into a paste. Add 3-4 cups water to make a very thin blend. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add a tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, ajwain (carom seeds) and methre (fenugreek seeds). Let splutter for a few seconds. Now add a large onion, cut lengthwise into thin slices and cook until browned lightly. Pour in the yogurt/besan mix and add 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp red chilli powder. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for at least half an hour. You have to stir this occasio...
17 comments
Read more

Potato Naan

I know what you see up there is a naan. But let's pretend for a moment we are making bread. For I had bookmarked this recipe for potato bread a zillion years ago. And that's what I set to make. Chopped and boiled 100 gms potatoes until they are soft. Mashed them along with 3/4 cup of water they were boiled in. While the potatoes were boiling, I added a tsp of sugar to 1/4 cup warm water, then sprinkled a tsp of yeast and let it proof for 10 minutes. To the potato/water mix, I added a cup each of whole wheat flour and plain flour, 1/2 tsp salt as well as the yeast. Once everything was mixed well, I put the dough on a flour-dusted surface and kneaded it for 10 minutes or so. It was a fairly wet dough, but got it to get smooth. Oiled a large bowl and put the dough in it to rise to double it's size. By the time the first rise ended after an hour or so, I didn't want the bread. I wanted a naan instead. And if someone deserves to throw a tantrum after days of sniv...
16 comments
Read more

Dukkah

Talk about myths busted. I went to Dubai planning to buy zat'ar, the fragrant herb and spice mix. And Dukkah, the interesting blend of nuts and spices. Not sumac, because I still have a pack left in my fridge. So zat'ar was easy - every Carrefour supermarket had that one. But no one had dukkah and I was like, how can they not have dukkah? It's a middle eastern thing, right! But well, they don't sell dukkah in Dubai, so I came back and armed with recipes from 10-odd blogs (all roughly the same), I set to make my own. The key to making dukkah is : line up all your ingredients, toast each of them separately in a heavy non-stick pan till they are fragrant and lightly roasted, then put everything in a blender and grind coarsely. This is your dukkah. Now dip your bread in olive oil, then dip it in dukkah and indulge. A final word of warning: this can be highly addictive. And finally, my list of ingredients: 1/4 cup almonds 2 tbsp coriander seeds 1 1/2 tbsp sesame...
14 comments
Read more